Just turn off your brain and enjoy! When Ren falls in love with the reverend's daughter, Ariel Moore, the music pauses and Ren needs to shape up or make dancing a legal activity once again. Prior to seeing this movie, all I had heard suggested that I was better off not watching it unless it was to ridicule. The characters are hollow and thanks to the deletion of several key scenes, the actors are not given a chance to redeem themselves and give us characters we can empathize with. He even tolerates this and tries to play by their rules, never once pointing out the obvious insults a typical obnoxious city teen would have for the rural folks. Or the glossing over of her being beaten by him? Most of the cast do great things with their roles.
The opening scene, though storyline changed a bit, had more of an impact behind the impetus of the town's laws. I wasn't inspired to check the soundtrack list. Also the acting helps a lot. They simply cut too loose. In this remake, Ren is instead that typical bratty teen, thinking an accident of birth makes him better than everyone, and greeting practically the entire town with the insult that they are hicks.
However, there is one small pleasure: Ariel Moore, a troubled but lovely blonde with a jealous boyfriend. But, as a no brain musical, this does work. He has a daughter named Ariel Lori Singer who is basically a hell-raiser--yet loves her father. As teen movies go, it is somewhat original and interesting. Both times lack passion, conviction and inflection. The dancing was top notch by today's standards though a little raunchy a time or two. And a Bible-thumping minister, who is responsible for keeping the town dance-free.
Oh, tell me what I got I've got this feeling that time's just holding me down I'll hit the ceiling or else I'll tear up this town Tonight I gotta cut loose, footloose Kick off your Sunday shoes Please, Louise, pull me off of my knees Jack, get back, come on before we crack Lose your blues, everybody cut footloose You're playing so cool, obeying every rule Dig a way down in your heart You're burning, yearning for songs Somebody to tell you that life ain't passing you by I'm trying to tell you it will if you don't even try You can fly if you'd only cut loose, footloose Kick off your Sunday shoes Oowhee, Marie, shake it, shake it for me Whoa, Milo, come on, come on let's go Lose your blues, everybody cut footloose Cut Footloose Cut Footloose Cut Footloose We got to turn it around And put your feet on the ground Now take a hold of the phone, Whoa, I'm turning it loose Footloose, kick off your Sunday shoes Please, Louise, pull me off of my knees Jack, get back, come on before we crack Lose your blues, everybody cut footloose Loose, footloose, kick off your Sunday shoes Please, Louise, pull me off of my knees Jack, get back, come on before we crack Lose your blues Everybody cut everybody cut Everybody cut everybody cut Everybody cut everybody cut Everybody everybody cut footloose! The closest I came to identifying with him was when his Uncle talked about him taking care of his mom. When teenager Ren McCormack and his family move from big-city Chicago to a small Midwestern town, he's in for a real case of culture shock. Penn is pretty good as Bacon's best friend--his learning how to dance sequence is a highlight. Ren cleverly uses Bible verses to make his point at the town meeting, because it is the only way to convince a highly religious town that bases all of their rules on the Bible. The opening sequence alone is great it shows various feet dancing to the title tune. The flaws are many in this film.
Bacon is just great--he doesn't take the movie too seriously and gives out a very good performance. Ariel's father protests not so much because he's a pastor, but because he maintains some shred of hope that his daughter is still a virgin, but when she informs her father that she's not, and Ren informs her father that his daughter is a slut, the pastor gives up and accepts that he will be a grandfather soon. Kenny seemed to struggle to find the balance in that sweet spot between underacting and overacting. Even the judge in this town had long hair as a teen, and Ren's uncle reminds him of this, to justify Ren blasting the town with noise pollution. Andie MacDowell didn't have much chance with the majority of Vi's scenes cut. In the original, the pastor and Ren finally bond because the pastor lost his son and Ren lost his father.
Ren's life changes when he moves to a small town where rock-n-roll and dancing are criminal activities. Ren and his classmates want to do away with this ordinance, especially since the senior prom is around the corner, but only Ren has the courage to initiate a battle to abolish the outmoded ban and revitalize the spirit of the repressed townspeople. Lithgow and Wiest are just great as the Reverend and his wife--Wiest has a great scene where she calmly tells him off and Lithgow wisely does not play the Reverend as a one-note character. Kenny Wormald was a great choice for the dancing scenes. He lives with his aunt and uncle after his divorced mother's painful death from leukemia. Two scenes that clearly show this is when his aunt asked him why the dance was important and when he stands before the town counsel.
Again, I am trying to give his performance the benefit of the doubt as they cut several key character-development scenes which would have shown how he grew throughout the course of the film. Ren and his classmates want to do away with this ordinance, especially since the senior prom is around the corner, but only Ren has the courage to initiate a battle to abolish the outmoded ban and revitalize the spirit of the repressed townspeople. The local councilmen and Reverend Shaw Moore reacted to the incident by banning loud music and dancing. I looked at my uncle dancing round his living room to some of its music and asked myself if anybody expected me to take that seriously. Dennis Quaid looked ill-at-ease throughout the entire movie, and even when he's angry he looks like he might lose his breakfast.
Though he tries hard to fit in, the streetwise Ren can't quite believe he's living in a place where rock music and dancing are illegal. Though he tries hard to fit in, the streetwise Ren can't quite believe he's living in a place where rock music and dancing are illegal. While the writers kept quite a few original lines and the director kept some iconic scenes, something was lost in translation. It seems the Reverend Moore John Lithgow , of the town's only church, has totally banned rock and roll music from the entire town. Had they kept that scene, he would have reason, he would have believability.