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Parents' Guide to

Roll Bounce

By Cynthia Fuchs, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

At times tedious, mostly fine for teens.

Movie PG-13 2005 112 minutes
Roll Bounce Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 13+

Based on 1 parent review

kaizenn
kaizenn Parent of 12-year-old
February 28, 2018
age 13+

This movie was a blast! Quality characters, great music, wonderful acting. For kids? Mixed feelings...

Soundtrack is great. Acting is great. On-screen skating performances are at times breathtaking. Fun story full of realistic characters, hard-working and intelligent people of color, focused on family and friendship and hard work rather than the typical gang violence, domestic abuse, and drug use that we seem to see in most movies like this. Story line isn't complex, but it also isn't predictable. Single black dad is angry and hurt at times, but never scary or violent, like so many of us are used to. I LOVED that. And Bow Wow is on fire the whole movie; especially the beating-the-car-with-the-baseball-bat (not a crowbar!) scene. The kids love making fun of each other, but the bonds of friendship are prevalent and strong. That being said, I have mixed feelings about my 12 year-old daughter watching it, simply because the entire movie is filled with sexy girls in tiny clothes- the young teen daughters all the way up to the aging mothers. None if it is THAT bad, and the main female characters are developed and respected rather than objectified. And I really love how everyone is portrayed (see paragraph above) and I want my daughter to experience all of that, so I don't know. Like I said, mixed feelings.
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What's the Story?

It's the summer of 1978 and X (Bow Wow) and his friends spend their time at the skating rink, preparing to compete in an end-of-season skate-off, against the intimidating Sweetwater team, headed by arrogant, beloved Sweetness (Wesley Jonathan). X clashes frequently with his widowed, newly unemployed dad (Chi McBride). X turns his attention to the rink, dad finally settles for a job well beneath his experience level. The father-son drama unfolds parallel to X's own girl-distractions. As warm-up, he makes friends with Vivian's daughter Tori (Jurnee Smollett), all awkward angles and long limbs as she learns to skate and gets pelted by immature boys' water balloons. Trying to keep up with the boys, she gives back as good as she gets when they make fun of her "heavy metal" mouth full of braces. X's more serious panic sets in at Sweetwater, where he spots Naomi (Meagan Good), a girl he hasn't seen for a while, now blossomed into full-on stun mode.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: (1 ):
Kids say: Not yet rated

Lively, sweet, and yes, bouncy, ROLL BOUNCE is mostly innocuous, sometimes tedious. While the film means to be feel-good, its formulaic route to that end is often tedious. More symbolic than developed, Naomi only seems to exist at Sweetwater, where she provides pretty reaction shots as X and the boys ply their routines to music by Kool & The Gang, the Bee Gees, and Donna Summer. Naomi serves as occasion for X's crucial life lesson -- don't be mean to girls who are nice. The always engaging Jurnee Smollett is underused here, but the 1970s fashions, music, and references are sensational.

The intertwined plot points start to seem like a checklist leading to the slow-to-come denouement. Will X make it right with Naomi? Will he and dad reconcile? Will Tori be revealed as a beauty when she loses her braces? And oh my goodness, will the wisecracking, booty-ogling garbage collectors (Mike Epps and Charlie Murphy) ever find another outlet for their energies?

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the death of the mother: how do father and son handle her loss differently and also similarly? Why does Curtis lie to his son (by omission) about not having a job? How does X's roller skating serve as an outlet and also a metaphor for his emotional maturation over the summer? And what about all those brand named goods all over the movie?

Movie Details

  • In theaters: September 23, 2005
  • On DVD or streaming: December 13, 2005
  • Cast: Bow Wow , Chi McBride , Meagan Good
  • Director: Malcolm D. Lee
  • Inclusion Information: Black directors, Black actors, Female actors, Latino actors, Multiracial actors
  • Studio: Fox Searchlight
  • Genre: Drama
  • Run time: 112 minutes
  • MPAA rating: PG-13
  • MPAA explanation: language and some crude humor
  • Last updated: July 28, 2023

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