Roll Bounce (2005)

64% of critics liked it
(88 reviews)
73% of users liked it
(55,032 ratings)

A handful of inner-city kids move up to the big time in this teen-centric musical. Xavier Smith (Bow Wow), known to his friends as X, is a teenager growing up on the South Side of Chicago in the late '70s. X and his buddies are the hotshot skaters at the Palisades Gardens, a neighborhood roller rink… More A handful of inner-city kids move up to the big time in this teen-centric musical. Xavier Smith (Bow Wow), known to his friends as X, is a teenager growing up on the South Side of Chicago in the late '70s. X and his buddies are the hotshot skaters at the Palisades Gardens, a neighborhood roller rink where local kids roll to the latest disco sounds, but X loses his status as king of the hill when the Palisades closes down. With no skating action close by, X and his friends head uptown to the Sweetwater Roller Rink, where they feel like country mice in the big city among the expert skate dancers and beautiful women. But skating means a lot to X -- with his widower father, Curtis (Chi McBride) going through a bad patch, skating gives him a sense of accomplishment and a belief in his own talent. So X and company keep heading uptown to Sweetwater, where they prepare to take on Sweetness (Wesley Jonathan) and his crew of the rink's best dancers for the upcoming Roller Jam Skate-Off. X befriends a young local girl named Tori (Jurnee Smolett) and finds a good reason to go uptown when he meets a pretty skater girl, Naomi (Meagan Good). Meanwhile, Tori's mother, Vivian (Kellita Smith) takes an interest in Curtis. Featuring a score of classic '70s R&B and disco, Roll Bounce was directed by Malcolm D. Lee, who enjoyed a breakthrough hit with 2002's Undercover Brother. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 47 min.
Directed By: Malcolm D. Lee
Written By: Norman Vance
Genres: Drama, Comedy

In Theaters: Sep 23, 2005 Wide
On DVD: Dec 13, 2005
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures

Critic Reviews

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper
Sometimes a film wins you over with its sheer exuberance and sweetness.
Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle
It will remind you what it was like to be a teenager during the last few days of summer. And even though the plot is a little thin, you probably won't even notice until long after the music stops.
Susan Walker, Toronto Star
A movie made in the spirit of: what the world needs now is a bit of innocent diversion.
Mike Clark, USA Today
If it doesn't exactly kick out the jams, it does move them around a little bit.
Teresa Wiltz, Washington Post
The film can't get its rhythms right, fluctuating wildly between comedy and pathos.
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
It's a movie that resists not just the temptations of the day, it resists doing or saying anything even moderately interesting about adolescence, single parenthood or a simpler time.
Joshua Starnes, ComingSoon.net
For the most part though, the honesty of the performances keeps everything afloat when it could drift into easy sentimentality.
Cynthia Fuchs, Common Sense Media
Mostly innocuous, sometimes tedious, mostly fine for young teens and up.
Kam Williams, BlackNews.com
For some reason, teasing people about their skin color has become a big theme of brainless black comedies like this. Plus, it unfolds like one long Pepsi ad, with dialogue extolling the cola's virtues in virtually every scene.
Kam Williams, Mount Desert Islander
For some reason, teasing people about their skin color and ethnicity has become a big theme of brainless black comedies like this.
Scott Weinberg, DVDTalk.com
Worthy of a 99-cent rental, if only so you can witness the howlingly awful performance by Wesley Jonathan as a self-appointed roller-disco mega-lord called "Sweetness." Kid had me in tears, I swear.
Michael Ferraro, Film Threat
Nothing about this film is as cathartic as it tries to make itself because the characters just aren't that absorbing. Instead of tugging your heart, it just spits in your eye.
Urban Cinefile Critics, Urban Cinefile
This is the 40th "skating movie" to hit the screens since Charlie Chaplin's The Rink (1915). It is neither the best nor the worst of them - skater dudes may think its cool, but 25 years ago there was the much maligned Xanadu with ELO, ONJ and (sigh!) stil
Jeffrey Westhoff, Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)
A spunky, fun little film.
Luke Y. Thompson, New Times
It would take a critic more churlish than this one to sneer and bare chickenlike talons at Roll Bounce
Ethan Alter, Film Journal International
The skating routines are a lot of fun to watch, filled with great choreography and backed by great tunes.

Read all 16 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Eric A

I loved the detail in this movie, it really game it a 70's feel. All in all it's a fun film with some good smiles and laughs.
Manu G

Oh Meagen Good, I melt just seeing your lips, god! This movie was very good and it really made me feel young again. 1970s roller-skate jams fuel this coming-of-age comedy, as X and his friends, who rule their local rink, are shocked when their home base goes out of business.… More
Oh Meagen Good, I melt just seeing your lips, god! This movie was very good and it really made me feel young again. 1970s roller-skate jams fuel this coming-of-age comedy, as X and his friends, who rule their local rink, are shocked when their home base goes out of business. Heading over to the Sweetwater Roller Rink, they find their modest talents are, at first, no competition for their trick skaters and pretty girls who follow their every move.
KJ P

Very good movie that takes place in the 70's and should touch anyones heart who watches it!
Red L

Somewhat of a corny movie. I watched it on TV because I spent time at our local roller rink as well in the 60's and 70's. It has a formula story-line. Down-trodden kid (Bow Wow) skates off against the uptown team, solving his family and girl problems all in one 90 minute… More
Somewhat of a corny movie. I watched it on TV because I spent time at our local roller rink as well in the 60's and 70's. It has a formula story-line. Down-trodden kid (Bow Wow) skates off against the uptown team, solving his family and girl problems all in one 90 minute movie.
Mike N

I'm not normally one to post buzzes so very often. For most of you, it's been many months...even years since my last buzz. And yet I still offer no rational explanation for my behavior today in buzzing a good number of you (still in process - catching a plane, so I'll… More
I'm not normally one to post buzzes so very often. For most of you, it's been many months...even years since my last buzz. And yet I still offer no rational explanation for my behavior today in buzzing a good number of you (still in process - catching a plane, so I'll be back to finish the rest). If I didn't buzz you yet, you're totally lame and I don't like you. Have a happy & safe New Year, folks! [size=1]EDIT: Whew. That turned out to be, like, 30 buzzes. And about 90% of them were novellas. Can you discover which ones they were? ;)[/size]
Joseph E

"Roll Bounce" Bounces into our Hearts, with "Smart a** Comments, and Heart Wrenching Warmth all in the same movie.
William G

Bland coming-of-age drama only picks up during few skating scenes.
John M

Clichéd but fun, fast-moving energy, good choreography and nice copilation of 70´s music.
Leo L

Hilarious!