Whip It (2009)

Bliss (Ellen Page) has been entered in one beauty pageant after another since she was a kid.  Her mother Brooke (Marcia Gay Harden) sees the pageants as a way for Bliss to get ahead.  While out shopping with her mother and little sister, Shania (Eulala Scheel), Bliss is intrigued by a trio of roller derby girls who come into the store.  Bliss attends a roller derby game with her best friend Pash (Alia Shawkat).  She meets Maggie Mayhem (Kristen Wiig), a derby girl who invites her to try out for the team.  Bliss, tired of trying to live up to her mother's expectations, shows up at a tryout and gets on the team. 

The team she plays for, The Hurl Scouts, hasn't won a game in a long, long, time. Their coach, Razor (Andrew Wilson), is at his wits end with the women.  But Bliss becomes their ace in the hole.  However, she hides her derby involvement from her mother and her easy-going father, Earl (Daniel Stern).  Also, she deals with the wrath of Iron Maiden (Juliette Lewis), who is the queen bee of the Scouts' main rivals, The Holy Rollers. 

This is a slice of life movie, directed by Drew Barrymore, who also plays Smashley Simpson, one of Bliss' teammates.  It nicely shows the comaraderie among derby girls, and highlights the desperation of young people wanting to get out of a small town.  For those who are unfamiliar with the sport of roller derby, the rules of the game are nicely explained in the script. 

Ms. Barrymore has been an actress since she was a child.  One of her best known roles was Gertie in the classic film ET (1982).  Ms. Page was the lead in the film Juno (2008).  Jimmy Fallon, who was a cast member on "Saturday Night Live" (1975-present), appears here as an announcer.  Eve, who is better known as a rapper, plays another one of Bliss' teammates.  Ms. Lewis was in Natural Born Killers (1994).

Juno (2007)

Juno (Ellen Page) is a sardonic 16 year old who after taking several at home pregnancy tests has to deal with the fact that she's with child. She tells her geeky track star boyfriend, Bleeker (Michael Cera), but seemingly lets him off the hook as far as taking responsibility. Juno then tells her dad and stepmom, Mac and Bren (J.K Simmons and Allison Janney), who expected her to tell them she had done something even worse.

Juno decides that she can't go through an abortion. The teenager quickly finds a yuppie couple, Mark and Vanessa (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner) who want to adopt a child. It is apparent early on that Vanessa really wants a child. It is not explained why her and Mark can't have their own children. Mark seems to want to do what is going to make his wife happy, but there are clues that he's not quite satisfied with going along with everything Vanessa wants. As the plot continues, it appears that he has a lot more in common with Juno than he does with Vanessa.

We learn that Juno's mom and dad divorced when she was a kid. Her mom moved out of state, remarried, had other children, and did not keep in contact with Juno. There's a hint that Juno suffered a lot of emotional stress behind that. Her smart-aleck attitude appears to be one way of dealing with that. It also speaks to why Juno is so adamant that her child have parents that will be there for them and stay together.

The film is okay, but Juno came off smarter than most teenagers really are. Her parents seemed to be a little too laid back about the unplanned pregancy, even though they were upset about it. I did like how the isolation some teens feel who are in that situation was shown. Juno hung out mostly with her friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby), who didn't judge her about the situation unlike the other kids and teachers at their high school.

J.K. Simmons was Peter Parker's boss in the Spiderman movies. Michael Cera was in Superbad (2007). Jennifer Garner was the lead in the TV action hit "Alias" (2001-2006). Allison Janney was a cast member on "The West Wing" (1999-2006). Rainn Wilson, a cast member on "The Office", has a small part.

Diablo Cody wrote the script. She won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.