Footloose

"Footloose" is a fun and very lighthearted motion picture that promises a good time and delivers.

The film has a simple, if unlikely, plotline. Streetsmart but gentle teenager Ren MacCormack(Kevin Bacon) arrives from the big city with his mother in the backwater town of Bomont. Enrolling at the local high school, he is appalled to discover the town's adults have imposed a law on "public dancing" and rock music, as enforced and practiced by the local preacher(John Lithgow). Ren quickly sets about changing things, falling in love with the preacher's daughter Ariel (Lori Singer) in the process.

The story is a little unlikely yet it is perfectly suitable for the teenaged audience at which it is pitched. The script takes some time to explore its simple theme - dancing and rock music, and what they symbolise for young people. Three scenes help to lay this out. The first sees Ren dancing by himself in a barn; the town meeting where Ren presents his case to the townspeople and explains to them the meaning of the dance; and the final prom sequence in which the teens of Bomont revel in their newfound liberation.

As the leading man, Kevin Bacon carries off his role very well. Ren isn't really a macho hero revelling in coolness, he's a down-to-earth young man trying to the right thing by his peers. His romance with Lori Singer's character Ariel is formulaic but perfectly inoffensive.

The film could have perhaps done with a little more nastiness to fully contrast against Ren's earnest intentions. Even Ariel's brutish boyfriend(Jim Young) fails to inject much tension in this respect and the final fistfight between him and Ren comes across as being a bit lame.

John Lithgow's characterisation is very good but it is a little too subtle. As the town Reverend and preacher of all things pure and holy, his extreme views come across not so much as puritanical, just merely uptight. The change that eventually occurs in his attitudes is hinted at very early on. The result is that he is nowhere near is frightening or intimidating a character as he could have been. At the same time his troubled relationships with his rebellious daughter and quiet wife(Dianne Wiest) are very well written and acted. In these scenes he excels and his character's development seems very natural.

On the technical side, the film is well-shot and the gloriously Eighties soundtrack complements the proceedings very well, bringing the necessary exhuberance and bounce to the whole movie.

Whilst "Footloose" is certainly no masterpiece, it succeeds in being a lighthearted knockabout caper, and as such is a very enjoyable movie.

'Footloose', despite being an enormous hit back in the 80s, seems to be a very divisive love it/hate it film critically now.

This reviewer neither loves or hates 'Footloose', from personal opinion it falls short of being great but the immense appeal is definitely understandable.

Its biggest weak point is the story. Conceptually it's daft, and further hampered by laying it on too thick with the ridiculousness (the drug scene and the basic concept) and over-sentimentality (the Reverend's somewhat tacky reform that didn't really ring true compared to how his character was written in general). Ren's dance routine in the abandoned warehouse was far too randomly placed, coming at an unrealistically weird point in the film.

Lori Singer being too old didn't bother me as much as it did other reviewers, but the overacting, constantly looking as if she was trying too hard, was less forgivable. The script is uneven, sometimes it's humorously light-hearted and feel good and there is a laudable attempt at providing depth with some more mature themes but too much of it is also cheesy and flimsy.

However, the songs are toe-tappingly great, especially the title song "Footloose" and "Let's Hear it for the Boy". The dancing is spirited, and apart from that one scene with Ren the choreography and dance numbers are finger-snappingly infectious. 'Footloose' is a good-looking film too, beautifully shot and smartly photographed with some inventive visuals in the title song, while the direction is solid enough and the pacing sharp and energetic constantly.

Singer aside, the cast are simply terrific, with Kevin Bacon in the role that made him a star making for a good free-spirited lead and the sadly late Chris Penn proving that he had the talent to make it bigger than he did. Dianne Wiest doesn't seem capable of giving a bad performance, while John Lithgow is effectively subtle and wisely reigns in in a role that could easily have been the opposite.

Overall, falls short of being a great film but the appeal is definitely understandable, because there are a lot of good elements that outweigh the still quite big flaws. 6/10 Bethany Cox

A film of enormous charm. It's about dancing but unlike many films about dancing it doesn't take itself seriously. It's loose-limbed and goofy and it lifts you up. It's set in a high school in a small mid-western town where dancing has been banned; (it reminds me of a joke I heard here in Ulster; 'Why do Free Presbyterians disapprove of making love standing up?' 'It might lead to dancing').

Kevin Bacon is the new kid in town who wants the ban lifted. Indeed, this boy seems to live to dance and he's immensely likable. He uses his killer smile to great effect. In this movie the dancing is integral to the plot and it evolves from it naturally and, for once, the director Herbert Ross takes things easy. As well as Bacon, the film has Lori Singer, (the obligatory love interest), and John Lithgow and Dianne Wiest as her parents. He's the bible-thumper who thinks that dancing is sinful and Wiest, with her wan, other-worldly smile, is the wife who doesn't as well as a very young Chris Penn as the over-weight farm boy Bacon teaches to dance in a wonderful sequence choreographed to Denise Williams' 'Let's hear it for the boy'

Small town America where dancing is banned. New kid in town conquers high school, catches the eye of the preacher's daughter and attempts to plan a school dance.

Such fantastic music! Kenny Loggins in his prime!!

Aw, come on IMDb'ers, why the low rating? Where's your sense of loyalty? I can't hear that Kenny Loggins title song and see those pairs of dancing feet during the opening credits without sitting down to watch this whole movie. And even if it's largely to make fun of it, I still love it for old times' sake.

Kevin Bacon is the tough city kid stuck in some podunk Midwest town where dancing has been outlawed. John Lithgow is the preacher who serves as Bacon's arch nemesis; Lori Singer is the preacher's daughter who has a hankering for the new dangerous kid. Dianne Wiest is the reasonable mom who acts as referee between dad and daughter. The whole thing is sillier than an episode of "Laugh-In," but many of the actors (particularly Lithgow, Wiest and Bacon) are good enough to actually sell the material. And come on, admit it, you know you like the music.

Grade: B+