Drew Barrymore has made some interesting choices a producer whether shepherding Charlie’s Angels to becoming a camp hit or championing something small and more potent like Donnie Darko. As a director, making her first film, she doesn’t stray too far from the things that have worked for her in the past: romance, comedy and a none-to-subtle message about girl power. Whip It! catches the of the moment revival of roller derby, which has recently evolved into the latest cutting edge indie sport du jour, faster and harder hitting than its 70s origins. Because of this Whip It! has great energy and heroines worth cheering for, dig deeper though and it’s the same old same old.

Ellen Page capitalizes on her Juno cache as the girl next door to play Bliss, a small town Texas teenager who’s forced to participate in beauty pageants by her stern but loving mail carrier mother (Marcia Gay Harden). While in Austin shopping, Bliss comes across a flyer advertising a roller derby at an abandoned industrial park. Curious, she talks her friend Pash (Alia Shawkat from Arrested Development) into heading down one night and checking out the on track mayhem. After the meet, she talks to Maggie Mayhem (Kristen Wiig) and Bliss tells her that the Hurl Scouts are her new official heroes. But Maggie dares Bliss to be her own hero and try out for the team, and soon the new roller derby sensation Babe Ruthless is born.

Now going in you know that Barrymore has a fine sense of comedic timing, but as a director she immediately sets a tone with all the derby scenes by getting the camera right in there and making you a part of the havoc. She’s also able to cram a lot of characters and a lot of plot development into the just under two hour running time, and miraculously it all comes through. Although Whip It! is clearly a chick power flick, Barrymore finds a good balance with the coming of age stuff and the high impact roller derby action, it’s almost like watching something on Spike TV. Good thing too because without the action and the characterization, this would have just been another “I-don’t-want-to-be-like-you-Mom-and-I’m-going-my-own-way movie.” Boring, right? And when the script leans a little too hard into that stuff, it hurts.

Aside from the roller derby scenes, it’s acting that wins the day. Harden as the tight-fisted mom is better than she should be making herself over-the-top funny yet somehow still kind of down to Earth. She’s partnered well with Daniel Stern as Bliss’ dad whose sympathy for Bliss’ desire to make her mark with roller derby is both quirky and endearing; there’s a great fatherly pride in him as plants a public display of his pride, just as his neighbour does with his footballer sons. And if I can just say how much I’m falling in love with Kristen Wiig as she disappears into another great supporting part playing big sister to Bliss. Even the obnoxious antics of Jimmy Fallon can’t dampen an otherwise excellent cast.

Still, I wasn’t a fan of a lot of the typical teen movie clichés where Bliss argues with her mother and ditches home, has a falling out with her best friend after a misunderstanding, and realizing that the guy of her dreams, a guitar player named Oliver (Landon Pigg), isn’t everything he’s cracked up to be. Between this and Jennifer’s Body, if there’s a lesson to be learned by young ladies from this year’s TIFF it’s that you shouldn’t trust guys in bands, seriously. But what you can trust is yourself, and that you know better than anyone how to find your true destiny. No kidding. Where have I heard that one before? Still, Whip It! is winning for the audience, and it’s a pretty good first time at bat for Drew Barrymore, director.