User Reviews

This movie had some good energy and laughs although the dramatic parts pretty much detracted from the picture and were terribly clichéd. Editing out the loss of the mother would've done the story some good. The drama didn't have its place. The formulaic storyline everyone's seen before, but the actors bring some spirit and laughs well with some zingers and commeraderie. The roller-skating/dancing is pretty well cut together and fun to watch especially with all the added theatrics. Supporting actors like the garbage guys and the villainous competition help as well. Overall it was a fun flick with fast-moving energy, choreography, and laughs all within the clichéd formulaic plot but you can identify the spirit of the cast and their uplifting and entertaining performances. Worth a rental for sure.

I'm very glad to see that someone out there still remembers the "Roller Disco" craze that swept the nation after "disco dancing" started it's decline. But, I'm not sure WHO Malcolm D. Lee was appealing to when directing this movie, either the young 2000's generation or the thirty-something's that were coming of age when "roller disco" was a house-hold term? Straight up...the movie was extremely well-cast, surprisingly so, with most of it's stars not even born yet during the time of the original skate craze. Bow Wow's performance is flawless and nicely complimented by his "pose" of best friends, back-up skaters, that produce much of the film's comedic value. Chi McBride's character is great and also very funny. Jurnee Smollett is right on target with her role as "Tori", the new girl in town, "ugly duckling brace-face" turn "swan" by the end of the movie. However, the movie does lack in several areas with a few "setting flaws". In the opening, at the older rink, we hear the song "Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll" a song by Vaughn Mason & Crew that debuted in 1979; the movie takes place in the summer of 1978. Also, during the opening credits skating scene, we see a young skater with "light-up" quad wheels, an item that just showed up on the market a few years ago...would have been impossible in '78. For the big skate competition, Bow Wow's crew chooses the song "Le Freak" from Chic, but Sweetness's gang "steals" the song and skates to it first; this is very reminiscent of 2000's "Bring It On"...(spirit fingers!!!) Furthermore, the kid's state that they don't know who the Bee Gees are ...which I find impossible not to have even heard of the "Gibb Brothers" in 1978, yet the kids are all ready to dazzle skating audiences with Chic's "Le Freak", a song that BARELY debuted in '78. There is a DJ at the run-down, older rink who is perfect and right on the mark with a "late '70s DJ"...and yet, at the awesome Sweet Water Roller Rink, the DJ looks like a throwback to 1968, donning hippie threads, a peace-symbol necklace and a larger-than-life afro. A very frail looking Wesley Jonathan plays "Sweetness" with a crew of oddball skaters who look like they fell out of a Salvation Army drop-off box, wearing every piece of over-the-top 1970s gaudy clothing they could find....do very little to the believability of the setting. Though some of the setting is pretty good, with hairstyles, cars and furniture...yet Director Lee goes seriously wrong again, this time in the quintessential area of '70s teen slang; we hear a kid mention "digits" when referring to a phone number, and another teen states "WHATEVER!!!", two terms clearly from the 1990s. This lack of attention to little details throughout the picture ruin the fantasy of being back in the good old days of 1978, let a lone a skating rink! Lee should have paid a bit closer attention to "Roller Boogie", "Skate Town, USA", and "Xanadu" for better tips on what people in the late 70s were wearing to roller rinks back in "the day". Also, 1978 also seems a bit too early for disco skating to be such a big phenomenon in such a small town...when in actuality, the fad didn't sweep the nation until mid 1979, early 1980. Watch this movie for the fun skating scenes and NOT the coming of age story Lee tries so desperately to push on his audience. If you remember 1978, and/or were apart of the original roller disco fad, that originated in NYC, like I was, look for the "flaws" that I mentioned...they're hard to miss. Furthermore, the great 70's songs you hear throughout the movie...don't expect to hear them on the CD soundtrack; they're not there!?!

A young boy (bow wow) enters an unattainable skating contest in order to win prize money when he realises that his father has been keeping a secret from him and his little sister about the real state of the family's financial affairs. There is also the issue of the death of the boy's mother which is a lingering but undressed subject until the culminating points of the film.

Meagan Good co-stars as bow wow's love interest and Nick Cannon plays a perpetually high roller blading superstar in this very predictable, sometimes corny, cliché ridden, lame joke running wannabe hilarious comedy.

The most popular skating movies preceding this are ROLLERBALL, PRAYER OF THE ROLLERBOYS, and SOLARBABIES, but those were all about futuristic, post-apocalyptic tales and did not have soundtracks with "Le Freak", "Emotion", "Hollywood Swingin'", and "Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll". I love a skate-off, dance-off, rap-off ending, but after this, I will accept no less than the villain ripping off his shirt once he completes the ultimate routine, as SWEEEEETness (Wesley Jonathan) does. Somehow, Nick Cannon isn't playing Sweetness (who has a pack of groupies with matching "Weakness for Sweetness" jackets), but the roller-skate rental Lothario who hands out skates bigger than your actual size to make the ladies think you're well-endowed. We've also got Wayne Brady, as he looked in that beer commercial when he went to 70s night with some friends in an afro, but it was actually 70's night for people in their 70's, and Charlie Murphy as a garbage man. Bow Wow, does have charisma and some moves, but his gang outshined him. My favorite was afro-sporting "Naps", the only one I recognized was the kid from HOLES, the girl who played brace-faced "Tori" is the new Tisha Campbell, and Meagan Good (6 years older than Bow Wow – the ages are a mess in this movie), as "Naomi", is the new Gabrielle Union. I was a fan of director Malcolm D. Lee's UNDERCOVER BROTHER too, and the only low point of ROLL BOUNCE was the father-son relationship, which was wayyyy too serious for the rest of the movie.

2005's Roll Bounce is a fun and entertaining film. I had no interest in seeing it but my mom wanted to and so I rented it from Blockbuster and watched it last night. And I was pleasantly surprised. This was a fun and quite entertaining film. Bow Wow plays Xavier Smith, a teen who lives with his father and younger sister and who's mother has just passed away. He and his friends love to roller skate and one day their beloved skating rink has been shut down. But luckily a new and improved skating rink called Sweetwater opens up. It's owner is a brash, cocky, and handsome guy named Sweetness, played by Wesley Jonathon. Sweetness is an excellent skater, and so Xavier and his friends find out that there's gonna be a skate off in a couple of weeks, so they make a plan to outskate Sweetness and become the best skaters ever. Yeah, this plot does sound a little silly but it was really fun. To me the most entertaining parts of the film were seeing everyone skate and do their skating tricks. Mainly because I never learned to skate and I wonder how they do it! Skating was always so difficult for me. I never could do it! And then seeing these kids on that roller rink skating makes me wish I had learned! It looks like so much fun! So it was very exciting to see these kids perform different methods of skating. All the actors did fine jobs. Especially Bow Wow. He had some great one-liners and he's a cute guy and he seemed to have a lot of fun doing this movie and doing all that skating. He was a blast to watch. And the actors who played his friends had some funny one-liners too and my mom and I were laughing a lot. This was a very funny film also. I forget his name but the actor who played Bow Wow's dad was also really funny. He was a joy to watch too. Nick Cannon was OK in the small role he had. He didn't add anything special to the film and we could've done without him. But he was still pretty funny.

But even if the plot of the film sounds silly, I think you should definitely watch this film for the awesome soundtrack! Anyone who grew up in the 70s with 70s music will enjoy it immensely. My mom was loving it! She just kept mentioning how much she loved the soundtrack and she was singing almost every song that came on! I was born in the 80s but I still enjoyed the soundtrack too. And for me that was what added to the excitement of the film. Even if you're not entertained by the skating, you will definitely be entertained by the soundtrack and the music! This was a fun film and I'm glad I rented it. Thank you for reading my review!

Roll Bounce is the type of movie that even when you try to appreciate it for what it is, it's still lacking. I saw this with a friend in exchange for her seeing "An Unfinished Life" (highly recommended by the way) I don't even know where to begin. I guess I'll start with questions: 1. Why wasn't Meagan Good laughed out of the audition for this film? This broad (while nice to look at, don't get me wrong) has zero presence on screen. I mean, I know Bow Wow is a great thespian, but he can only do so much to carry a scene.

2. Why wasn't the scene in which Bow Wow was smashing the car and crying cut from the movie? A: This scene came out of left-field and was way too heavy for this movie. And B: The director should have seen that Bow Wow couldn't carry such an *ahem* emotional scene.

3. How did it ever come down to a skate off? Come on, dog! The other team was doing flips. FLIPS! They should have had that, no question.

All in all, Roll Bounce isn't great, but it isn't terrible either. I think it's a shame that there aren't a lot of good roles written for black people. Instead, we get this.

Maybe it was low expectations after seeing several middling pics in a row- but I was pleasantly surprised by Roll Bounce - an charming and fun flick about teens in the roller disco era- Bow Wow was the lead in this movie playing X a son who is still grieving for his recently deceased mother.Chi Mcbride does a great job as a father who is looking for work while trying to hold his family together and deal with the passing of his beloved.For the most part this is a comedy- the kids cut on each other the whole flick- and it is fun.The crosstown rival is Sweetness- who is like the pimpdaddy of roller disco- he has an entourage including 3 hotties who have shirts that read "a weakness for Sweetness".The gag reel has some hilarious stuff with Charlie Murphy riffing .A good coming of age flick. Probably the second best rental coming out this week-right behind 40 Year Old Virgin B+

Beyond the story line, there are just too many things that don't ring true to 1978, which was when the competition was supposed to have taken place. I was a teenager in the late 70's, so it was easy for me to spot the inconsistencies. The Pepsi can with a big bar code was definitely early 80's. There was no need for those bar codes on merchandise until the grocery stores started using the scanner registers in the early 80's. The boom box was also early 80's. The guys in long baggy shorts were late 80's at least. Tight shorts and jeans were the thing in the late 70's. I personally saw 2 guys I knew get suspended from my junior high for wearing very tight jeans to school with no underwear. These guys were mature enough to have something to show. I suppose they were trying to imitate Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin). LOL! A few of the songs in the Roll Bounce soundtrack were also post 1978. Couldn't believe the characters in the movie were supposed to not know who the Bee Gees were. Had to be living under a rock somewhere to miss Saturday Night Fever in 1977. Right up there with Star Wars in the same year. It wasn't just a white thing. I remember hearing Bee Gees music played everywhere from the mall, to the record store, to restaurants on their juke box. Totally inescapable, no matter if you liked their music or not. I was also having a hard time with the way the Southside neighborhood was portrayed in the movie. As they walked out of the skating rink that had just closed, the neighborhood appeared to be run down, and they were talking about it possibly becoming a liquor store, as if they were in the middle of the ghetto. Then when X got to his house, it was in a middle class area with a few nice brick 2 story homes nearby. His father (Chi McBride) owned a classic red Mustang. Also his girlfriend Naomi lived in a very nice house. My older cousin grew up in Chicago and was also a teen in the 70's, and this portrayal doesn't seem to fit with his description of the Southside in the 70's. It was supposedly a very rough neighborhood. Anyway, just think the movie could have been a little better if they had tried to pay attention to details and portray the Southside and the 70's like they really were. The young actors were not even born then, so they had no reference to the times. I expected to see more of Nick Cannon, but his role was very minor. Couldn't help but laugh at Wayne Brady as DJ Johnny Feelgood.