Whip It!

You're a very successful actress who has starred in some of the biggest movies of all time. You're a very sucessful producer who has produced some of the biggest hits in recent years. You're part of a family that is a holiday dynasty. You want to make a directorial debut and someone pitches you a movie set in small town Texas about female roller derbies. This comes across as a good idea?

Who ever persuaded Drew Barrymore to make her directorial debut with this film may have at first seemed a bit mad - but they weren't, it was a surprisingly good idea.

Set in small town Texas Whip It is a female coming of age film where an intelligent young teen finds more to life than beauty pageants by stumbling in to female roller derby. It should be dreadful - it isn't. Gentle and amusing, but with a little bite in the script, it really benefits from a strong cast which includes Barrymore, Ellen Page and Juliet Lewis.

It is not flawed - it could be 20mins shorter, a couple of characters aren't really developed as well as you might like, and Jimmy Fallon's character as the roller derby MC could have been consigned to the cutting room floor in its entirety without losing anything - but it's different. You get involved. You what to know what happens. You engage with the characters, especially the parents who are particularly well drawn. It's an unexpected delight.

Worth watching - and any film that includes a T shirt of 80s Christian metal rock band Stryper as a plot point can't be bad.