‘Whip It’ Reviews | Drew Barrymore in the Directing Business

‘Whip It’ gets good movie reviews

On the set of "Whip It." Image from Flikr.

Directing her first feature film, Drew Barrymore has managed to churn out a dramatic comedy that most critics are raving about. “Whip It” reviews say the film is well directed, well cast, “a total blast” and “the best girl-powered sports film since Bend it Like Beckham.”

Alonso Duralde from MSNBC says in a “Whit It” review that the film “marks an impressively crowd-pleasing directorial debut for Drew Barrymore.” This is pretty high praise for a first-time director, so it appears Barrymore has made a good career choice. Any cash advance loans she used to make this film, which reportedly had an estimated budget of $10 million, should be paid back in no time.

Director Drew Barrymore

Duralde wasn’t the only critic to bring up Barrymore in a “Whip It” review. In fact, almost every critic who reviewed the film for Rotten Tomatoes did so. David Edelstein from New York Magazine writes: “Drew Barrymore’s directing debut Whip It is a mite too adorably ingratiating, especially for a story of a 17-year-old (Ellen Page) groomed for pageant life who gravitates to snarling girl punks and roller derby.” That might sound like a slight, but in the end Edelstein says the movie delivers, and Page is “marvelous.”

Joshua Rothkopf of Time Out New York says: “A ray of sunshine onscreen, Drew Barrymore isn’t going to suddenly make a grungy roller-derby movie.  So she’s done something harder: made an intensely sweet roller-derby movie about letting your kids grow up happy.”

Girl power

Many critics also commented on the “female-empowerment,” “girl power” or “chick flick” aspects of the film. Drualde called “Whip It” a “fun female empowerment movie.” The “best girl-powered sports film” comment came from Roger Moore of the Orlando Sentinel. Moore also wrote that Page’s character “Bliss discovers roller derby, where the women are tough and take stage names like Smashley Simpson and Bloody Holly.”

Pete Hammond of Boxoffice Magazine, in his “Whip It” review, says the movie is a “realistic but highly entertaining story that travels to two extremes of the female experience.”