- 8
...clicks on so many levels -- heartwarming family story, rough-and-tumble display of grrrl power and a secondary but tender and convincing romance...
—Peter Brunette Hollywood Reporter
- 8
...exuberant and totally winning...
—Lou Lumenick New York Post
- 8
In her directorial debut, Drew Barrymore decides Oscar can wait. Instead of big issues and dramatic acting, Whip It is more like an indie rock album that tween girls everywhere can relate to. Ellen Page (Juno) and crew make roller skating oh so in-your-face fun.
—Pete Paras E!
- 8
The movie is miles more intelligent than most of the cream-of-wheat marketed to teenage girls. Funnier, more exciting, even liberating.
—Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times
- 8
One of the year's most charming and jubilant films, made by one of Hollywood's sunniest presences, Drew Barrymore, it?s a welcome blast of grade-A Girl Power.
—Jason McKiernan filmcritic.com
- 7
...succeeds because of the emotional rather than comic payoffs...
—Michael Phillips Chicago Tribune
- 6
At moments, especially in the conflicted intimacy between Marcia Gay Harden and Daniel Stern as Bliss' parents, Barrymore shows real directing chops. But in Whip It she's painting inside the box.
—Peter Travers Rolling Stone
- 6
...enjoyable...
—Leah Rozen People
- 6
Whip It suggests what might have happened if Juno had gone to a high school as poky as Napoleon Dynamite's and decided that although her mother wanted her to be a beauty queen like Little Miss Sunshine, she'd rather just strap on roller skates.
—Lisa Schwarzbaum Entertainment Weekly
- 5
The only thing that keeps [director] Barrymore's effort from playing like an American Movie Classics rerun is the soundtrack...
—Robert Wilonsky Village Voice
- 4
There's a lot of underlying potential here, but there seems to have been no one around to whip it into shape.
—Ryan Stewart Slant Magazine