Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut hits Blu-ray and DVD this week and there’s much to love about Whip It, which can be prosaically described as a coming of age teen comedy but this is far more than that, and it’s really worth seeking out if you missed this at the cinema.

Craig reviewed the film for HeyUGuys here, and I’ll give my take below.

Closeted in a small town on the cusp of adulthood the wonderfully named Bliss Cavendar navigates the road of parental pressures and the limits of ambition until she stumbles across the joys of roller derby and her life is changed forever.

It’s a small town tale, but told by Barrymore with great skill, helped in no small part by a great cast. Everyone is great, Ellen Page and Marcia Gay Harden elevate the cliched tensions between mother and daughter with their interplay a pitch perfect display of the inescapable emotional bond straining under the pressure of inherited ambition.

The puntastic names of the rollers and their teams crack a smile every time we hear a new one, and there is an infectious sense of fun and a vital wit to the film, with Kristen Wiig, Juliette Lewis, Jimmy Fallon and Daniel Stern all doing great work in maintaining this.

It’s an incredibly fun film, Ellen Page again proving that she’s so much more than Juno, and she carries this film with a wit and charm which Barrymore makes the most of. The DVD is missing the director’s commentary which would have been illuminating, we get instead only a few deleted scenes and interviews, but this is no problem – the film is worth your time.

I tweeted after watching this, and I can’t think of a better way to sum up my feelings.

Just saw Whip It – At one point Ellen Page’s character says “I’m in love with this.” That’s my review of the film right there.

The DVD and Blu-ray is out today and you can purchase it on DVD & Blu ray here.