Review of Roll Bounce
Score: 75
Sub-Section: Comedy
Company: Fox
Date: Jul 27, 2006
Get ready to Roll Bounce in the new DVD starring Bow Wow! A group of friends in the 1970s love to go to the local rollar rink and are the hottest thing there. When the rink closes, however, they have to go to the other side of town and try to make a name of themselves and defeat the master skater, Sweetness.
This movie surprised me. It is much better than you would envision a Bow Wow roller skating movie to be. This doesn't mean that it is an Oscar contender, but it's worth a rent. Director Malcolm Lee takes the story very seriously and it is heart warming and tender.
The scenery in Roll Bounce is terrific. The 70's vibe is so spot on that it feels like it was filmed in that decade. All the 70's dress and lingo is there, fittingly. The soundtrack is mostly a greatest hits of funk and disco. I still can't believe this is what everyone listened to! It's weird to see a group of black boys being excited about Le Chic's Freak Out.
At first I thought this would be a straight-forward comedy, but I soon discovered it would be a mesh of genres. It tries to get sentimental and has some attempts at deep, meaningful scenes, but these parts feel really forced and out of place. They actually take away from the movie as a whole, rather than add anything. It would have been more satisfying to pick one mood throughout and stick to it. I understand the need for conflict, but there is already the battle with Sweetness. The added family drama is simply not necessary.
The scenes everyone is waiting for, the roller skating, don't disappoint. The amazing tricks they do will make you want to buy a pair and go to your local rink with four of your friends and GET DOWN! Okay, maybe they aren't that earth-shattering, but some of the moves are pretty impressive. I had a lot of fun watching them do "the train" and other crazy tricks. The worst was Sweetness. Come on! The baddest mofo at the rink should have some sweeter tricks. He's Sweetness! They definitely picked the wrong actor for the role.
The cameos varied from good to awful. Charlie Murphy and Mike Epps as the neighborhood garbage men were occasionally funny, they had potential and could have done with a better joke writer. Nick Cannon was ridiculous as the roller skate rental dude. If you see the cover of the DVD, it has the two main actors as Bow Wow and Nick Cannon. Nick Cannon was in the movie for five minutes! And he sucked! If you're going to hype up a cameo, make sure it's at least a memorable one.
While not a masterpiece, Roll Bounce is worth a rent. It's easy on the eyes and ears and a surprising little movie for a rainy day.
Other related links:
Roll Bounce Trailer at Apple.com
Roll Bounce at IMDB.com
To visit the official website at FoxSearchlight.com.