Before I saw the film today with my mature 13 year old daughter (have 2 more girls in college so she's witnessed many situations of  teen angst at an early age), I heard a critique of it on a Christian radio station.  They said though "not  family friendly" due to the boozing, language, and make out scenes, it is a good "Girl Power" film about empowering girls to become passionate about something and to do their best at it!

I'd like to add that it's one of the few teen films in many years to show negative consequences for bad behavior (telling lies, underage drinking). Also had some girl/parent moments that brought tears to my eyes.  I have to admit my daughter and I had "fun" cheering on Bliss' roller derby team even though we generally hate violent sports (football, hockey).

All the online critiques I've seen had nothing good to say about the film except that they liked the return of Juliete Lewis to films after a 4 year sabbatical to pursue her rock music career.

What do you all think????

I haven't seen it, but do have the book it's based on in my TBR pile.  The original title of the book is Derby Girl, but the book was just rereleased with a new title- Whip It.

I'm not sure what you're looking at review-wise, but it has an 81% on Rotten Tomatoes, so you certainly aren't alone.  I'm absolutely dying to see it.