Bliss Cavender's small Texas town offers little in the way of teen-approved  extracurricular activities, until the quick-witted misfit, played by Juno star Ellen Page, discovers a roller derby team in nearby Austin in the Drew Barrymore-directed comedy Whip It. Based on the novel by Shauna Cross, Whip It is a unique coming-of-age (and coming-to-blows) story that follows Cavender's induction into the wide and wild world of roller derby action. Among her new teammates and opponents are Barrymore herself, Juliette Lewis, Kristin Wiig and Arrested Development's Alia Shawkat. Rated PG-13. Friday is also your chance to meet members of Baton Rouge's own Red Stick Roller Derby team beginning at 6 p.m. at the Rave theater at the Mall of Louisiana, and on Saturday beginning at 6 p.m. at the Rave location on O'Neal Lane.

Though it has more in common with the zany dark comedies of Richard Lester, critics say director Steven Soderbergh's left turn into The Informant! this month was a call out of the Coen Brothers playbook. Well, turnabout is fair play, and the Coens pull a Soderberghian trick with A Serious Man, casting near unknowns in the micro-budgeted drama, out this Friday. The 1967-set story revolves around a middling college professor whose wife threatens to leave him if he can't find a way to squeeze his lay about brother out of their house—and lives altogether. Meanwhile, there are problems at the university where an anonymous foe has initiated a slander campaign against him that could ruin his chances of tenure and one enterprising student offers to bribe in exchange for a passing grade. Rated R.

Of course he plays a writer. In the new comedy out this Friday, The Invention of Lying from The Office and Extras creator Ricky Gervais, the comedian plays a writer living in an alternate reality where no one has ever uttered a single untruth. No tall-tales, no exaggerations, no distortions or fibs. And no lying by silence, either. Everyone in the film speaks their minds, airing every grievance and desire with complete honesty and no filter to catch the drivel. The cast is loaded with comedic talent from Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Jennifer Garner, Jonah Hill, and Rob Lowe, but there in the center is the star, our original liar, our writer, Ricky Gervais. But can this nifty new invention really get him what he wants? Or is the truth more rewarding than fiction? Rated PG-13.