“Whip It” is Drew Barrymore’s first role as a director and she showed us that she could do it all. She shows her quirkiness and energy onscreen and off screen. It’s set in a scene of a women’s roller-derby racing, which has recently become more and more popular across America. Ellen Page stars in the movie giving us a little quick wit, but not as much as her previous role in “Juno.”  “Whip It” has everything you need in a movie – family conflict, a love story that has connection and girls showing how tough they can be.

Page plays Bliss Cavendar a.k.a. Babe Ruthless who is an intelligent, pretty high school student that lives in a small town in Texas. Her mother is a mail carrier and shows a stereotype of a small town woman that forces her daughters in local beauty pageants. On the other side, her father, whose humor is more like Bliss’s, hides in his van in the middle of parking lots to get away from the family once in a while.

One day Bliss goes shopping with her mom in a second hand shop and finds a flier for an all-girl roller-derby team. She was hooked and knew that her pageant loving parents wouldn’t be on board with the idea. Bliss begins living a double life when putting on her Barbie skates and becoming “Babe Ruthless.” Like all double lives, Bliss’s comes to an end once her best friend is arrested and the truth gets leaked.

Roller-derby is quite a violent sport and they portray this very well in the movie. They show off their bruises and wounds like trophies. Smashley Simpson (Drew Barrymore) is the most violent, tackling and punching everyone, including her fiancé. There are elbows to the gut, tripping with skates and full on punching in the face.

Writer Shauna Cross gave us what has usually been a man-based movie and changed it into women. It has everything from food fights, vomiting and violence and shows that girls can be just as tough as men can be, in love and in the ring.

Page is great in this movie and strays away from the one-line, smart aleck we saw her in with “Juno.” Drew Barrymore does great directing her first movie and all actors fit very well to the characters they played. “Whip It” is a great feel-good movie that makes you cringe at the same time.

Starring: Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig, Drew Barrymore, Juliette Lewis, Jimmy Fallon, Daniel Stern

Directed By: Drew Barrymore

Screen Play By: Shauna Cross

Rating: PG-13

Running Time: 1 hour 51 minues