Rated PG-13 for some teen drug and alcohol use, sexual content, violence and language
Cast: Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough, Dennis Quaid, Andie MacDowell, Miles Teller
Director: Craig Brewer
“Footloose” is a faithful remake of a moderately entertaining 80s movie hit. One’s enjoyment of the movie can, I imagine, quite accurately be gauged on how much he/she enjoyed the 1984 original. The movie follows its predecessor more closely than most remakes.
I never found the first "Footloose" to be a great movie, but an acceptable one. It had high energy and a lot of catchy tunes, and its flaws were forgivable. The film was a thinly-plotted fish-out-of-water, coming-of-age story that served as a perfect excuse to string together a series of music video numbers. It was released just as MTV was getting its sea legs. Many of my age group hailed the movie as defining our generation. I didn’t quite see it that way. (I can’t imagine a whole generation being represented by a solitary definition, let alone one offered up by a movie.) Yet for what it was, I enjoyed it.
After his mother’s death from leukemia, Boston native Ren MacCormack (Kenny Wormald) relocates to the buckle of the Bible belt, an uptight small town named Bomont, Georgia. He takes up residence with his aunt (Kim Dickens) and uncle (Ray McKinnon), befriends a likable yokel named Willard (Miles Teller) and catches the eye of wild child Ariel Moore (Julianne Hough) whose father (Dennis Quaid) is the local Presbyterian minister. The most unique thing about Bomont is the law prohibiting dancing and loud music that the town board adopted following a horrific fatal car accident involving a group of beloved students—among them Ariel’s brother—that occurred three years prior to Ren’s arrival. His love of music, dance, and freedom doesn’t mesh with the town’s strict social restrictions.
The director is Craig Brewer (“Hustle & Flow,” “Black Snake Moan”) and he is obviously a fan of the original. It’s not too much of a stretch to picture him and cinematographer Amy Vincent sitting before a screen watching the original and taking notes. There are a couple changes I did notice. One alteration came in a scene where Ariel hangs from the window of her racer boyfriend’s car waving the checkered flag as he does a victory lap following a win. This supplants a scene in the original where Ariel straddled herself between two moving cars as a tractor-trailer came barreling straight toward them. This was a good change; the latter scene made Ariel less like a reckless teen and more like a suicidal nut. Another scene that was swapped out was the farm tractor game of chicken between Ren and Ariel’s jealous hubby; it’s replaced with a bizarre bus race on a figure-8 dirt track that isn’t nearly as effective. (And it doesn’t even make use of Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero” that made the game of chicken in the first film more exciting than expected.)
Kenny Wormald and Julianne Hough are acceptable enough in the leads, though both are clearly better dancers than actors. This is especially true for former “Dancing with the Stars” darling Hough, whose moves are so hypnotic that I wish the filmmakers had figured out a way to incorporate a lot more dancing into the story and a little less acting. Kevin Bacon and Lori Singer were edgier and more complex, whereas Wormald and Hough seem more cut from the “American Idol” cloth.
Dennis Quaid plays Reverend Shaw Moore a bit differently from John Lithgow, who relished the fire and brimstone approach to his congregation and, more noticeably, toward his family. Quaid’s character harbors strong reservations toward Ren, but seems a bit softer around the edges. His own pain is a bit more noticeable. Miles Teller’s Willard is a step-up, I think, from Chris Penn. (Teller played the heartbroken young man who accidentally struck and killed Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckart’s son in “Rabbit Hole.”) He’s a bit quicker on the verbal draw here, more likable and demonstrates some nifty dance moves of his own.
It’s a tough call. I didn’t mind the movie yet I can’t quite bring myself to recommend it, perhaps because its scope of ambition is simply too narrow. Brewer has made a remake that honors an original he clearly embraced, and that’s fine. Now it’s time to aim higher.
* * 1/2 out of * * * * stars
I never found the first "Footloose" to be a great movie, but an acceptable one. It had high energy and a lot of catchy tunes, and its flaws were forgivable. The film was a thinly-plotted fish-out-of-water, coming-of-age story that served as a perfect excuse to string together a series of music video numbers. It was released just as MTV was getting its sea legs. Many of my age group hailed the movie as defining our generation. I didn’t quite see it that way. (I can’t imagine a whole generation being represented by a solitary definition, let alone one offered up by a movie.) Yet for what it was, I enjoyed it.
After his mother’s death from leukemia, Boston native Ren MacCormack (Kenny Wormald) relocates to the buckle of the Bible belt, an uptight small town named Bomont, Georgia. He takes up residence with his aunt (Kim Dickens) and uncle (Ray McKinnon), befriends a likable yokel named Willard (Miles Teller) and catches the eye of wild child Ariel Moore (Julianne Hough) whose father (Dennis Quaid) is the local Presbyterian minister. The most unique thing about Bomont is the law prohibiting dancing and loud music that the town board adopted following a horrific fatal car accident involving a group of beloved students—among them Ariel’s brother—that occurred three years prior to Ren’s arrival. His love of music, dance, and freedom doesn’t mesh with the town’s strict social restrictions.
The director is Craig Brewer (“Hustle & Flow,” “Black Snake Moan”) and he is obviously a fan of the original. It’s not too much of a stretch to picture him and cinematographer Amy Vincent sitting before a screen watching the original and taking notes. There are a couple changes I did notice. One alteration came in a scene where Ariel hangs from the window of her racer boyfriend’s car waving the checkered flag as he does a victory lap following a win. This supplants a scene in the original where Ariel straddled herself between two moving cars as a tractor-trailer came barreling straight toward them. This was a good change; the latter scene made Ariel less like a reckless teen and more like a suicidal nut. Another scene that was swapped out was the farm tractor game of chicken between Ren and Ariel’s jealous hubby; it’s replaced with a bizarre bus race on a figure-8 dirt track that isn’t nearly as effective. (And it doesn’t even make use of Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero” that made the game of chicken in the first film more exciting than expected.)
Kenny Wormald and Julianne Hough are acceptable enough in the leads, though both are clearly better dancers than actors. This is especially true for former “Dancing with the Stars” darling Hough, whose moves are so hypnotic that I wish the filmmakers had figured out a way to incorporate a lot more dancing into the story and a little less acting. Kevin Bacon and Lori Singer were edgier and more complex, whereas Wormald and Hough seem more cut from the “American Idol” cloth.
Dennis Quaid plays Reverend Shaw Moore a bit differently from John Lithgow, who relished the fire and brimstone approach to his congregation and, more noticeably, toward his family. Quaid’s character harbors strong reservations toward Ren, but seems a bit softer around the edges. His own pain is a bit more noticeable. Miles Teller’s Willard is a step-up, I think, from Chris Penn. (Teller played the heartbroken young man who accidentally struck and killed Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckart’s son in “Rabbit Hole.”) He’s a bit quicker on the verbal draw here, more likable and demonstrates some nifty dance moves of his own.
It’s a tough call. I didn’t mind the movie yet I can’t quite bring myself to recommend it, perhaps because its scope of ambition is simply too narrow. Brewer has made a remake that honors an original he clearly embraced, and that’s fine. Now it’s time to aim higher.
* * 1/2 out of * * * * stars
