Bodeen, High School student Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) goes behind her beauty pageant obsessed mother Brooke’s (Marcia Gay Harden) and her laidback father Earl’s (Daniel Stearn) backs and heads to Austin to take part in women’s roller derby competition quickly rising to the top of her sport. But she’s lied about her age which is against league rules and when the truth comes out it’s not just going to be her parents who are going to be upset with her.

CRITIQUE

Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut Whip It is a movie that just gets better and better the more I watch it. I have this sneaky suspicion that much like Mean Girls, The Devil Wears Prada, A Fish Called Wanda and Once it is going to be a movie I can put into the player at any moment and happily enjoy, the film going to grow on me over time to the point I’m not going to be able to imagine a world without it.

In my original review last October I wrote, “While unsurprising and more than a tad familiar, this is nonetheless one of the more exuberantly entertaining pictures of the Fall. It hits virtually all the right notes, each of its primary characters three dimensional creations that consistently amaze. While the outcome isn’t new, the dramatic fireworks getting to that point are, everyone painted in intriguing shades of grey and not your typical black or white.”

I hold to all that and more. Paige is just wonderful, Harden should have gotten herself an Oscar nomination for Supporting Actress and the cast of irregular regulars Barrymore lined up to play the close-knit roller derby team (including herself, Kristen Wiig, Death Proof fireball Zoe Bell and rap starlet Eve) are absolute perfection. I also keep getting a huge kick out of Andrew Wilson, and how he hasn’t found success while brothers Luke and Owen have is a mystery that continues to confound me.

All-in-all, this movie is just a grandly enjoyable teenage coming of age adventure almost impossible to dislike. As I said the first time in my original review, “Fast, funny, filled with strong performances and ultimately moving, Whip It is a total blast from start to finish. Barrymore has crafted a sensational debut, the final product so good I can’t wait to see what she’s got up her sleeve (or hidden inside her skates) next.” As I can’t say it any better a second time around, I’m going to leave things there and stop while I’m ahead.

THE VIDEO

Whip It is presented in 2.40:1/1080p qidescreen. A solid transfer that does the film’s gritty atmosphere justice.

THE AUDIO

Available audio includes English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 and French Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks with optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles.

THE EXTRAS

Surprisingly, there isn’t much here in the way of extras. There are some good Deleted Scenes, the not all that great Alternate Opening and the somewhat lame featurette on the film’s author Fox Movie Channel presents: Shauna Cross of “Whip It.” The set also comes with a digital copy of the film.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I love Drew Barrymore’s Whip It. Even though I’d liked a bit more in the way of extras, the film itself is so good I think this Blu-ray is worth the price of a purchase without any question whatsoever.