Bend It Like Beckham on Roller Skates

Rating: 9/10 (28 September 2009)

Whip It and Bend It Like Beckham are so similar, but so much different. Both tell the stories of teenage girls who sneak away to participate in sports, Soccer and Roller Derby.
Both girls have crushes and relationships with the opposite sex, both end differently.
The main difference in Whip It, which makes the film really stand out, is the relationship with Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) and her mother (Marcia Gay Harden). This is the main theme of the movie and is beautifully developed. Drew Barrymore said she was drawn to the script because of mother-daughter theme. Drew and her mom have had problems and wanted to do the story because of it.
Bliss grows up in a small town (Bodine) in Texas, which is on the outskirts of Austin. Watch for the part when Bliss and her friend Pash dance to the Dolly Parton song Jolene, and change the words to Bodine. One day while shopping in Austin she picks up a flyer for the local Roller Derby team, the Hurl Scouts. Bliss talks her best friend. played by Alia Shswkat, into driving her into Austin to watch an actual game. She is invited after the game by Maggie Mayhem to attend a tryout to make the team.
Drew said she was attracted to the sport of Roller Derby by the crowd. When she attended an event, she looked around and saw yuppies, blue collar workers, teenagers, families, and just a wide range of people. All drawn to the sport of Roller Derby.
The book was written by Shauna Cross who based her experience on her career with the LA Derby Dolls. Shauna skated with them as Maggie Mayhem (played by Kristen Wiig). Shauna was looking for a tennis partner and searched Craigslist for one, and found an ad for Roller Derby, which started her career.
Drew made some additions to the script. A fan of the hockey movie "Slap Shop" and the characters the Hanson Brothers, she came up with the Manson Sisters for Whip It. They play silent but deadly teammates on the Hurl Scouts. A little hard of hearing or not caring to, they walk by the white board with a play diagrammed, look, and just keep walking. They are played by LA Derby Dolls skaters Kristen "Krissy Krash" Adolfi and Rachel "Iron Maiven". Adolfi and Piplica are teammates on LADD's Tough Cookies, on whom the film's fictionalized Hurl Scouts are based.
Landon Pigg goes from musician to his first acting role, as Bliss' love interest. I think this is the only scene of making out under water I have ever seen.
If some of the blood and bruises look real .. they are !! Most of the actors did their own skating and had their share of mishaps. Bliss (Ellen Page) was trained by LA Derby Doll's Axle of Evil. Drew suffered a huge bruise on her thigh while wrestling with one of the trainers. During the training, some of the actors would yell out "I am hurting" and the trainers would yell back "Keep Skating".
The movie scenes of Roller Derby action look extremely real as Drew used hand held cameras for a lot of the action. A huge crane in the middle of the track took shots from high above and also went down close to the action.
The moral of the movie (per Drew) is finding yourself, to get out there and do things, to improve yourself, and to pick yourself up and keep trying.
I highly recommend this movie to one and all.