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So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 59 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
13 Iffy for 13+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 83
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    Bow Wow plays the skate-dance hero in a way that's never too cool to hide what an avid achiever the kid is, and he and his buddies converse in a fiendishly alert middle-class trash talk that keeps Roll Bounce jumping. Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Peter Hartlaub

    Funny and honest. Read full review

  • 75
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    Roll Bounce, a nostalgic memory of disco roller-dancing in the late 1970s, has warm starring performances from Bow Wow and Chi McBride, who are funny, lovable and sometimes touching. Read full review

  • 70
    Los Angeles Times | Kevin Thomas

    Has plenty of affectionate humor to balance some serious heart-tugging. And as for the roller-skating, it for sure provides a lot of razzle-dazzle action with lots of virtuoso terpsichorean touches. Read full review

  • 63
    USA Today | Mike Clark

    Roll Bounce rates a friendly nod. If it doesn't exactly kick out the jams, it does move them around a little bit. Read full review

  • 60
    The Hollywood Reporter | Sheri Linden

    Doesn't depart from the inspirational coming-of-age formula. But it has got enough heart and disco-fever exuberance to connect with audiences. Read full review

  • 50
    Boston Globe | Janice Page

    This nostalgic licorice whip of a movie assumes there's still an audience for a straight-faced, family-friendly salute to the 1970s heyday of competitive roller disco. Read full review

  • 50
    Washington Post | Teresa Wiltz

    The film can't get its rhythms right, fluctuating wildly between comedy and pathos. Read full review

  • 50
    Variety | Justin Chang

    Funky disco-era throwback never fully jells with a surprisingly intense central tale of father-son estrangement, strongly acted by Chi McBride and 18-year-old rapper-thesp Bow Wow. Read full review

  • 40
    The New York Times | Manohla Dargis

    A drowsy comedy about a handful of kids grooving and roller-skating, Roll Bounce has heart and good vibes but little else to recommend it. Read full review

View more reviews for Roll Bounce on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 13+ At times tedious, mostly fine for ages 13+.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this movie includes sexual references (primarily, men or boys ogling tight-dressed women), crude humor (jokes about a girl wearing braces and other boyish shenanigans), and some language (including the "N" word). As a coming of age story, the movie focuses on the ways a family copes with the recent death of the mother. Father-son tensions eventually lead to a fight, where son smashes his dad's car with a crowbar, and then tearful reconciliation.
  • 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?
The good stuff
  • message true3 Positive messages: Kids are sweet, roller-skating is fun, father and son come together.
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: Some fighting between boys, Bow Wow smashes his dad's car with a crowbar.
  • sex false3 Sex: Some references to sex, mostly men or boys ogliing tightly dressed women.
  • language false3 Language: Including damn, ass, mo-fo, motherf***r, and the n-word.
  • consumerism false3 Consumerism: Nostaligic product everywhere, including references to What's Happening!!, Kool-Aid, The Mod Squad, Fruit of the Loom, the Fonz (Happy Days), Baretta, Kung Fu, Jordache Jeans, Fat Albert, YooHoo, Pacman, Ford Mustang, Atari.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Brief drinking at a party attended by adults.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

Roll Bounce Movie Ratings + Reviews

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So-so 97 fan reviews

Critics say

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