Summaries

Synopsis

Whip It opens five minutes before a beauty pageant in Bodeen, Texas, where one of the contestants is missing. Backstage, 17-year-old misfit and rebel Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) regrets accepting a dare from her best friend Pash (Alia Shawkat) which involved dying her hair blue before the pageant. Bliss tries to wash the dye out but ends up going on stage with her hair blue, losing the pageant, much to the disappointment of her mother, Brooke (Marcia Gay Harden).

With both Bliss and her mother upset about what happened, Brooke offers to take her daughter shopping in Austin, where Bliss witnesses three roller-derby girls drop promotional fliers at a clothes shop. Mesmerized by them, Bliss takes one of the fliers and learns of an exhibition derby match and asks Pash to come with her. After the team is defeated in the exhibition, Bliss meets the Hurl Scouts, captained by Maggie Mayhem (Kristen Wiig) and coached by Razor McGee (Andrew Wilson). When Bliss tells Maggie that the Hurl Scouts are her new heroes, Maggie tells her to "Put some skates on, be your own hero."

Bliss lies about her age and decides to attend try outs, keeping it a secret from her parents, who would never approve. Razor can see that Bliss has natural talent and tells her that she has made the cut, welcoming her to the Hurl Scouts. Bliss plays well in her first game, but the Hurl Scouts lose. At the after party, Bliss discovers a connection she has with Oliver (Landon Pigg), a 19-year-old lanky teenage heart breaker and guitarist. He compliments her taste in music, and as they talk, Bliss misses her chance to tell him she's a Derby Girl when she is thrown into a hot tub by Iron Maven (Juliette Lewis), the captain of The Holy Rollers - a rival Derby team.

Later at the diner where Bliss works with Pash, she spots Oliver outside in his car and gets Pash to cover for her. Oliver drives Bliss to the arcade where he attempts to impress her with his pinball skills, but after that fails, the two end up driving somewhere secluded and singing together. The next night, the Hurl Scouts win their first game of the season, of which Oliver is in crowd attendance. The Scouts are forced to take their game more seriously and put faith in their coach. After Bliss' performance, she becomes the team's point scorer as their star Jammer and picks her Derby name as Babe Ruthless.

As she and Oliver spend more time together, Bliss falls for him and is heartbroken when he tells her his band is going on tour around the states. Bliss develops a strong relationship with Maggie Mayhem as the Hurl Scouts climb the Derby leader boards but has trouble keeping a strong relationship with her mother, who is disappointed in her rebellious activities and her lack of interest in her beauty pageants. After the Hurl Scouts win another match, police show up at the warehouse they are held and order it to be cleared out. In the evacuation, Iron Maven overhears Bliss tell an interrogative police officer that she is only 17. Pash is spotted with a drink in her hand and arrested on the spot for being under-age. Bliss however has disappeared with Oliver and is of no support. Late that night, the two of them break into a public swimming pool where they make love and spend the night together, trading shirts to remember each other while he's away.

In the morning, Bliss comes home to her angry parents who received a phone-call from Pash's parents and know about her involvement in Roller Derby. Bliss argues with her mother who is furious that she lied, however Bliss shoots back that she is sick of her mom forcing a housewife lifestyle on her, and she just wants to be her own person. When Iron Maven threatens to tell the League about Bliss' real age, she breaks and is forced to reveal it to her own team.

Despite being shocked, the Hurl Scouts accept her and prepare for their final match. Bliss misses Oliver terribly, who won't return her calls. After she looks on his band's website, she finds a photo of him with another girl wearing the shirt Bliss gave him. She is heartbroken and seeks support from her mother, and the two make up with Bliss promising to compete in the Blue Bonnet Pageant, an annual event and very important to Brooke. She is later horrified to discover that the pageant and the final Derby Match between The Hurl Scouts and the Holy Rollers fall on the same night. She decides that her relationship with her mother is more important and attends the pageant.

Meanwhile Bliss' father (Daniel Stern) finds footage and promotional photos of her on the website and realizes how much she enjoys being Babe Ruthless. He talks Brooke into letting Bliss skip the pageant for her chance at happiness. Minutes before the League Championship, Bliss is confronted by Oliver who has returned from his tour. She accuses him of cheating on her, and when he denies, she is still heartbroken that he never called and breaks up with him.

Babe Ruthless and Iron Maven go head to head on the track, with the game neck and neck for its duration. The Holy Rollers barely defeat the Hurl Scouts, who are shattered at first but get past it, chanting "We're number two!" which is what they shouted when they lost their first match. While still upset with Bliss, Brooke finds the script to her daughter's speech that she would have read had she attended the pageant, in which she claims her mother to be the person she admires most.

Pash is accepted into a college in New York, whereas Bliss pursues her love for Roller Derby and expresses interest in moving to Austin. The film closes with Bliss sitting on the roof of the diner, reflecting on her life as of late.