Release Date:  October 2, 2009
Rating:  PG-13 (for sexual content including crude dialogue, language and drug material)
Genre:  Comedy/Drama/Sports
Run Time:  111 min.
Director:  Drew Barrymore
Actors:  Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Daniel Stern, Drew Barrymore, Kristin Wiig, Jimmy Fallon, Eve, Juliette Lewis, Landon Pigg, Andrew Wilson, Alia Shawkat, Zoe Bell

I know, I know, it's tempting to simply dismiss Drew Barrymore's directorial debut as Juno on roller skates. After all, Whip It does feature Ellen Page as the slightly offbeat protagonist who doesn't exactly fit in her small hometown of Bodeen, Texas.

But unlike Page's turn as the pregnant teen with a whip-smart quip for, well, everything in Juno, her latest character, Bliss Cavendar, definitely has more in common with the girl next door—even if she does end up moonlighting as Babe Ruthless on the local roller derby circuit.

Much like 2002's Bend It Like Beckham, another feisty story of female empowerment, Bliss also finds an outlet for her life's frustrations in the sports arena when typical "girlie" activities just won't do. Not exactly comfortable in the prim and proper beauty pageants her mom (played to perfection by Marcia Gay Harden) forces her to participate in or serving up barbecue with her best friend Pash (Alia Shawkat) at the Oink Joint where she's a waitress, Bliss ultimately wants more for her life than what Bodeen has to offer.

But she's really never found an after-school activity she's really connected with. That is, until she bumps into a group of rowdy roller derby girls and wonders if she could be as cool and self-assured as they were on skates.

Encouraged to "be her own hero" by Maggie Mayhem (Kristin Wiig), Bliss considers taking her up on the offer. But there's a simple matter of transportation standing in her way. Lacking a ride to the upcoming festivities in Austin, Bliss decides that roller derby is still worth the trouble and promptly boards the local old folks' bingo bus to see what all the hubbub is about.

Then after seeing what an actual match entails (and just how much fun the girls were having), it's basically love at first sight, and Bliss decides she's in—even if she doesn't meet the minimum age requirement and her last pair of skates had Barbie decals on them.

Of course, there's also the not-so-small issue of getting her mom on board, too. Since the wild and crazy world of roller derby isn't exactly a stage mom-sanctioned activity (and something as simple as dying her hair blue has freaked her out in the past,) Bliss lies and says she's taking an SAT-prep class instead, a teeny little detail you're positive is going to backfire at some point.