Product Details

• Actors: Ellen Page, Drew Barrymore, Kristen Wiig, Sarah Habel, Shannon Eagen
• Directors: Drew Barrymore
• Writers: Shauna Cross
• Producers: Drew Barrymore, Barry Mendel, Chris Miller, Jason Lust, Joseph Drake
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• DVD Release Date: January 26, 2010
• Run Time: 111 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (105 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002VPTJOA
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,406 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • #81 in Movies & TV > DVD > Sports
• For more information about "Whip It" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Drew Barrymore makes her bow as a director with this Roller Derby coming-of-age number, which shares the spirit of so many of Barrymore's movies: it's loosey-goosey, cheerful, and buoyant in waving its "Girls Rule!" flag. On screen, Barrymore relegates herself to a slapstick supporting role, handing the lead to Juno gal Ellen Page. Page plays a Texas teen with a yen to join Austin's Roller Derby squad, complete with new professional moniker Babe Ruthless, but she'll have to keep the side career secret from her beauty-pageant-obsessed Mom (Marcia Gay Harden) and football-watchin' Dad (Daniel Stern). A coming-of-age tale emerges between bouts of skating on the RD track (Jimmy Fallon plays the goofy Derby announcer), with a dash of romance added in the form of a generic Dude in a Band. Kristen Wiig does surrogate-mom duty as a teammate, Juliette Lewis is appropriately out-there as a track rival, and Andrew Wilson (bro of Owen and Luke) gets some hilariously poker-faced lines in as the team's coach. All the pleasant stuff makes you almost overlook how ramshackle the movie is, and how standard-issue the parental tensions (even if Harden is a total pro, as always). Ellen Page doesn't offer the innate audience-friendly cuddliness of Barrymore herself--thus her apt casting as Juno's brittle heroine--but her rapt focus is something to behold. "Babe Ruthless" indeed. --Robert Horton

Stills from Whip It (Click for larger image)

Product Description

Hang onto your helmet and get ready to break away from the pack! Ellen Page scores huge laughs as Bliss Cavendar, a small-town teenager with a big dream: to find her own path in the world. Tired of following in her family’s footsteps of compliance and conformity, Bliss discovers a way to put her life on the fast track...literally. She lands a spot on a rough-and-tumble roller derby team and becomes “Babe Ruthless” — the hottest thing on eight wheels! Co-starring Drew Barrymore (in her feature film directorial debut), Marcia Gay Harden, Juliette Lewis, Daniel Stern and Jimmy Fallon, Whip It is a triumphant, free-spirited comedy loaded with high-speed action and nonstop fun!

• Audio: English: 5.1 Dolby Digital / Spanish: Dolby Surround / French: Dolby Surround
• Language: Dubbed: English, French & Spanish / Subtitled: English, French & Spanish
• Theatrical Aspect Ratio: Widescreen: 2.40:1

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Blu-ray: Enjoyed it more than I expected. Solid PQ, AQ could have been better as well as special features., February 5, 2010

By 

Dennis A. Amith (kndy) (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Whip It [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

Roller Derby. I can easily remember turning on the television and watching the Los Angeles T-Birds. Personally, I didn't know if this was a true sport or if it was like wrestling and it was just sports entertainment. But I was hooked. Not sure if it was the blonde women with poofy hair throwing other women out of the rink or that one person who didn't look should be on the rink, actually kicking butt. Needless to say, that roller derby has had its following for decades and now here we are with a film based on a character who takes part in roller derby competitions.

"Whip It" marks the directorial debut by actress Drew Barrymore ("E.T.", "50 First Dates", "The Wedding Singer", "Charlie's Angels" films) and is an adaptation of the novel "Derby Girl" by Shauna Cross, a fictionalized book of skating with the TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls.

The independent film was released in theaters during the fall of 2009 and now makes its Blu-ray and DVD debut. The Blu-ray edition comes with a second disc which contains a digital copy of the film.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

"Whip It" is presented in 1080 High Definition (Widescreen 2:40:1), AVC @ 36 MBPS. The film sports vibrant colors with the Hurl Scouts green outfits, while amber lights shine on the roller derby rink. You can see details in the surroundings, especially injuries ala bloody noses to bruises. Even the tattoos on Kristen Wiig are seen much clearly on HD. Skin tones are natural and blacks are nice and deep. Everything is visible from the freckles of Pash, to the sweat and tears of Bliss and the other girls during competition or the more emotional scenes of the film. I will say that at first, I thought this was a period film shot in the '80s but you realize that the film focuses on Bliss living in a very small town.

There is a fine amount of grain in the film and I didn't notice any compression artifacts, banding or any sign of DNR. A solid Blu-ray release in terms of PQ from Fox.

As for the audio, "Whip It" is featured in English 5.1 DTS-HD MA and Spanish, French 5.1 Dolby Digital. The film is front and center channel driven. Dialogue and music are both crystal clear but there is minimal use of surrounds. You can hear crowd ambiance and the women racing on the rink and hitting the side rails and hearing the skates but its not immersive as I would have hoped but still, the film is not all about the roller derby and there are plenty of dialogue scenes and music-driven scenes that are very clear, with some songs having a nice kick of bass. A pretty interesting soundtrack as well from '80s 38 Special's "Caught Up in You" to music from the Ramones and the Breeders.

Subtitles are in English SDH and Spanish.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

"Whip It" comes with a digital copy of the film and comes with a few special features:

* Deleted Scenes - (16:14) Included is an alternate opening and eight deleted scenes.
* Fox Movie Channel Presents Writer's Draft: Shauna Cross of "Whip It" - (3:04) A short featurette with an interview with novel and screenwriter Shauna Cross about "Whip It".
* Whip It Soundtrack Spot - (:32) A promotional for the "Whip It" soundtrack.


JUDGMENT CALL:

"Whip It" may seem like a film about roller derby and the antics that go behind-the-scenes of the sport but truthfully, the film has many layers. From a coming-of-age film, a relationship movie and a girl power film, there are a good number of things going on in this film that there is far much more to enjoy than expected.

I have to admit that Drew Barrymore's directorial debut definitely shows promise. The actress has starred in so many films since she was a child and has worked with a good number of quality director's, I had no doubt that she would do a pretty solid job.

Part of the challenge of "Whip It" is bringing together this wild bunch of characters that the character Bliss associates with and then bringing this other side of her life as a teenager from a small town, having an overbearing pageant mother and working at a fast food restaurant while trying to maintain her friendship with her high school friends and then finding love. Definitely not an easy task for Barrymore but one thing she does have is the original author Shauna Cross involved with the screenplay and she has a talented actress in Ellen Page in the main role.

At first glance, I didn't know if Page can pull of such a role but as she did with "Juno" she manages to pull of Bliss very well for "Whip It".

As for the other supporting characters, personally I don't if roller derby lifestyles are similar to what is depicted in the movie. As much as I do enjoy Barrymore's directorial debut, her role as Smashley Simpson is a bit too much while I do feel Kristen Wiig manages to pull off another solid supporting role like she has done in "Extract" and Juliette Lewis still does a great job in portraying the bad girl. Marcia Gay Harden and Daniel Stern (who plays Bliss's father) also do a good job as the parents of Bliss.

As for the Blu-ray, the picture quality for the film was very good and the lossless audio was satisfactory but it would have been great to have it a bit more immersive via use of the surround channels. And it would have been great to have audio commentary by Barrymore and Shauna Cross or even a featurette on how the talent prepared for the film or even Behind-the-scenes footage. I felt the special features were a bit short for this Blu-ray release. But as for the film, "Whip It" is an entertaining, humorous and a solid coming-of-age, feel-good style of film. And again, although roller derby does play a big part in this film, "Whip It" is not an all out sports movie. The film has many layers to it and fortunately, the solid performances definitely made this film enjoyable.

Overall, "Whip It" is a solid directorial debut from Drew Barrymore and fine performances by Ellen Page and its supporting cast makes this film better than expected.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MUST SEE this movie!, October 25, 2010

By 

Jack Of Alltrades "Just another soul" (Loth Ethtadoth Unidoth) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Whip It (DVD)

This film is amazing! It's got everything, an indie, fresh, real feel to it, a lot of great laughs and some very intense heartfelt moments. Drew is a lot more than a pretty face---it seems she's also a great judge of screenplays and a great director. The casting is absolutely perfect. Every line, every expression, every scene is pitch perfect. The acting is wow! If you can watch this without laughing yourself sore and tearing up (in a manly way, of course) then you're obviously suffering from the same degenerative brain disease as the reviewers who rate it below 4 stars. And what's amazing is there is nothing really gross or offensive in it. A few off color lines is all that gives it the 13+ rating. For gawd's sake, if you love great movies, rent this one and give Drew a chance to make another one.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Whip It, April 14, 2010

By 

Sheldon Dickinson (Buena Park, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Whip It [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

Loved the movie even more than the book, Derby Girl, upon which the movie was based. Ellen Page softened the character of Bliss and I can't imagine anyone else doing a better job. The supporting cast was wonderful. The movie expanded the storyline perfectly while maintaining much of the dialogue straight from the book and best of all expanded the derby action. Kudos to Drew Barrymore in her directing debut and in her supporting role. D.B. obviously gravitates towards the girl power genre while having the knack of toning it down just enough to be enjoyable to general audiences. I truly hope the author or a screen writer comes up with a clever sequel because this was a ride that ended way too soon.