Whip It
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: October 2, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
24
Mixed:
8
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Barrymore’s casting choices are intrinsic to the success of the film. Lewis, under her rink name, Iron Maven, hasn’t had this meaty a role in maybe 15 years, while Wilson as the team’s shaggy male coach is a hoot to watch. Harden and Stern, as Bliss’ parents, create fleshed-out characters instead of lazy depictions of the paper tigers that grown-ups usually are in teens’ stories. Read full review
63
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
The movie ended just in time. Any more of it, and I'd have been crying uncle. Or maybe, given the grrrl-power of it all, crying aunt. This is one supposedly contrarian film that rouses the counter-contrarian in you. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Most crucially, Barrymore encourages Page to just let herself go. The sight of her making her way up residential streets in a pair of Barbie roller skates or screaming “Marco’’ in a game of Marco Polo is simply joyful. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
A surprisingly credible coming-of-age story. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
An unreasonably entertaining movie, causing you perhaps to revise your notions about women's Roller Derby, assuming you have any. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Barrymore’s direction is generous to a fault, and there are times when you wish Whip It simply moved faster, on and off the track. It succeeds because of the emotional rather than comic payoffs. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
The derby sequences are just OK, and the conflict between Bliss and her uncomprehending parents, played by Marcia Gay Harden and (a fine) Daniel Stern, is so predictable that you wish someone had rolled onto the set to whip it into shape. Read full review
80
EmpireKim Newman
Barrymore, among the most consistently admirable women in showbiz, can proudly add a Guides badge for Meritorious Directing to her many other achievements. Excellent emo chick coming-of-age drama plus broads in fetish gear battering each other on roller skates -- frankly, a film that offers something for everyone. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The movie is Drew Barrymore's directorial debut (she also plays fellow Hurl Scout Smashley Simpson), and it's clear she's more attuned to grrrlishness than real athletic power. Read full review
60
Film ThreatJessica Baxter
Whip It doesn’t just refer to whipping around the track or whipping ass. It’s about a girl who must whip herself into shape and grow up. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
What makes Whip It a blast is the action in the rink. What gives Whip It heart is the pathos, pain and mettle-testing elements that accompany any serious athletic competition. It doesn't hurt that its diminutive star is surprisingly athletic and agile on the track. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Whip It is completely predictable from the first frame. It also is ridiculously, utterly entertaining. Read full review
63
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
The result is a film that is equal parts fluff and tough. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
It's that happiest of surprises: a multiplex movie that genuinely respects its young audience. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Page is softer than in "Hard Candy" and "Juno." Without Diablo Cody comebacks, she’s even more marvelous. Read full review
88
New York PostLou Lumenick
Sweet without being sticky and funny without getting silly, Whip It introduces Barrymore as a director with a keen eye, a good ear for tone and an inspired touch with actors. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Whip It (which takes its name from a play in which skaters hold hands and form a human whip to propel the last skater forward) is heaven on wheels. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
Barrymore is terrific with her actors, finding moments for even the smallest supporting players. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
At its best, this could have been a passable distraction and at its worst, it could have been unwatchable. Barrymore manages to bring it in somewhere in between those extremes. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter Travers
At moments, especially in the conflicted intimacy between Marcia Gay Harden and Daniel Stern as Bliss' parents, Barrymore shows real directing chops. But in Whip It she's painting inside the box. Read full review
50
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Has such a sweet spirit that it's easy enough to let its flaws sail by. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleAmy Biancolli
For all the hip checks and bloody noses, it doesn't have a mean bone in its body. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe Williams
What Barrymore brings is good-natured, girl-powered subversion, a sense of when to flaunt clichés and when to flip them over the rails. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
It’s virtually impossible to hate the film, but Barrymore’s presence behind the camera suggests more calculation than vision; like a lot of actors who direct, she tends to the performances, but her style never rises above bland proficiency. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Boisterous, cloying, simultaneously raunchy and innocent, hip and klutzy. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterPeter Brunette
Clicks on so many levels -- heartwarming family story, rough-and-tumble display of grrrl power and a secondary but tender and convincing romance. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
You might, nonetheless, want to see this movie, even -- or maybe especially -- if you have seen “Billy Elliot” or “Bend It Like Beckham.” Familiarity is not always a bad thing, and if the script, by Shauna Cross, piles sports movie and coming-of-age touchstones into a veritable cairn of clichés, the cast shows enough agility and conviction to make them seem almost fresh. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua Rothkopf
Marcia Gay Harden is the picture’s treasure; watching her swell with concern at her daughter’s choices, you understand how hard it is to let go. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
To paraphrase Devo: Whip It, not so good. Read full review
80
VarietyRob Nelson
Laced with good-natured hipster kitsch and endearingly goofy girl power, director Drew Barrymore's roller-derby dramedy, Whip It, is a gas. Read full review
50
Village VoiceRobert Wilonsky
Highlights: Andrew Wilson as the roller girls' coach (ah, so there's the Wilson brother who can act) and the roller-derby vets (played especially well by Juliette Lewis and Kristen Wiig) about whom we learn just enough to wish the movie was focused on them instead. Read full review
70
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
Arriving on the nastier heels of the horror comedy "Jennifer's Body," Whip It plays like that movie's more wholesome twin, delivering the same jolt of anarchic guerrilla-girl empowerment, only with a far less threatening disposition. Read full review
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