A cute enough coming of age tale, with an enjoyable cast, and well directed by Barrymore (in her directorial debut). Nothing too deep here, except a message about doing what you love, and never giving up and just doing what other people want of you. Ellen Page is perfect, though basically playing the same roll she always does. I wouldn’t rush to see it, but it is cute, and worth checking out. And Jimmy Fallon as the announcer is hysterical. Interesting that it does not go into the lesbianism that is mostly associated with roller derby, but it does make it seem fun to watch.

Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) lives with her parents, Brooke (Marcia Gay Harden) and Earl (Daniel Stern) and little sister in Bodeen, Texas. She goes to high school with her best friend Pash (Ali Shawkat) and they both work at a local barbecue place. Both want out of town, but Pash is going to an Ivy League school, and Bliss just wants out any way she can. He mom is always entering her in beauty pageants, though it is the last thing she wants to do, and when she dies her hair blue, it ruins all her chances. When on a shopping trip to Austin she picks up a flier for a roller derby and she and Pash go on the pretense of going to a football game. Bliss loves it, and loves the ever losing Hurl Scouts, and goes to introduce herself to Maggie Mayhem (Kristen Wiig) who tells her about auditions, and Bliss decides this is what she wants to do.

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

Bliss sneaks away and tried out, and makes it into the Hurl Scouts, who have never won a game. Bliss is terrible, but incredibly fast, so she makes it and joins the team. The girl’s coach Razor (Andrew Wilson) wants them to be the best, and even has plays made up for them, but the girls are happy always being number 2, so they don’t care or learn, so he gives one of his plays to another team, helping them win, and the girls see that maybe they should learn the plays.

The best team is led by Iron Mayben (Juliette Lewis) who does not like Bliss, who is actually a rival, and helps to make the Hurl scouts a viable contender.

Bliss ends up meeting a musician named Oliver (Landon Pigg) who she starts dating, but things get rocky when he goes on tour and never calls her, and she sees posted photos of him with a girl wearing her shirt!

Bliss’s friendship with Pash also gets messed up when Pash gets nailed for underage drinking which might ruing her chances at the Ivy League school she was planning on going to.

Bliss also has problems with her controlling mother who wants her to do what she wants, and be in pageants. Bliss eventually loses it and moves out, but when the girls learn she is only 17 and can’t be in the league without parental permission, she must go home. Earl lets her play, and loves the game and how good Bliss is, even if the girls do not win in the end, coming in for real second, instead of last. ANd even Brooke ends up coming, and is proud of her daughter in the end, it may not be what she wants, but it is her own thing.

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As I said, cute and not too deep.