Footloose

Starring: Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough, Dennis Quaid, Andie MacDowell, Patrick John Flueger, Miles Teller
Directed by: Craig Brewer
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Comedy, Drama
2011

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: City-kid Ren McCormack (Kenny Wormald) moves to the country, to a town where dancing is illegal. Now, Ren must go against the whole town, but most especially a conservative preacher (Dennis Quaid) in an effort to repeal the dancing law and win the heart of the preacher's daughter (Julianne Hough).

Review:
Tim: I was very much opposed to this remake of Footloose. Sure, the classic 80's hit has aged a bit over the last few decades, but it's still a great movie. I wasn't convinced that this movie needed to be made. I tried to keep an open mind going in, but sometimes a book can be judged by it's cover. There's absolutely no reason for this movie to exist, save for the attempted cash-grab of the famous name. I didn't like this movie much at all, and it's far, far worse than the original.

This movie does follow the original fairly closely, but there were a lot of changes, too. I appreciated the changes because it made this movie feel a bit different and unique, even though it really wasn't. Unfortunately, most of the changes didn't improve upon the original. For example, the original features a terrific scene of two guys playing chicken with tractors. It's one of the best scenes of the original movie. It was probably wise not to recreate that, especially because the whole idea seems a bit quaint in today's world. Instead, we're given a completely ridiculous scene about a school bus race on a demolition derby track. This scene is signficantly less effective than the original. This is an example of many aspects of this film- I appreciated the change, but the change was worse than what was already there.

Kenny Wormald gives a lot of effort in his performance of Ren MacCormack, but he doesn't even begin to hold a candle up to Kevin Bacon. The first film was so good because of Bacon's charismatic performance, holding the whole film together. Wormald was fine, but he didn't have that same spark that made you think there was something special about him. If this is the highlight of his career, it wouldn't surprise me. Julianne Hough was fine as Ariel. I didn't think Lori Singer was particularly great in the original role, so I wasn't as broken up about it. She is not a very strong actor, though, and that shows nearly every time she's on screen. She is a good dancer, but her acting is quite poor. Dennis Quaid actually gives a good performance as the preacher, and his presence was sorely needed to raise the film up. However, the whole time, I just kept thinking, "Why would he agree to do this?" I suppose he needs the paycheck. Andie MacDowell was completely wasted in the film.

One of the big problems I had with this film is that the basic premise just seems so outdated. It worked much better in the 80's. It was hard to believe there was a law that outlawed public dancing. It seemed silly, and it pulled down the rest of the movie around it. It was hard to take any of this serious, and without strong actors to make the characters come alive, there wasn't much going for this movie. The songs have been updated some, but I preferred the original. I will say that I liked that they showed the initial car crash, which created all the drama for the rest of the film. The original didn't show that, and I think it helped make it more realistic.

While I liked a few of the choices here, overall, this is still a movie that could not justify its existence. I still think this remake was a poor idea, and it delivered a lackluster, forgettable film. It's sad to think of a classic like Footloose having such a poor remake attached to it. I see the effort that was put into this movie, but it amounted to very little. This is not a good movie at all.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Footloose (1984)