Everybody Cut! Everybody Cut! Everybody Cut Footloose!

Rating: 7/10 (17 April 2006)

As those of you who know me from the message boards will know, I will have a place in my heart for this movie. On March 10th of this year, I attended my high school's production of the Broadway musical version of "Footloose", and loved it. It was one of the best nights of this school year so far (for reasons I should not go into too much detail here). Still, it took about five and a half weeks before I could see the movie on which the musical was based.
The plot, for those of you really want it: Ren McCormack (Kevin Bacon) is a Chicago kid who moves to the small Indiana town of Bomont, where the local priest, Shaw Moore (John Lithgow), has outlawed rock music and dancing (due to the death of his son in a car accident). After turning the local kids (including Lori Singer, Chris Penn, and Sarah Jessica Parker) onto the tunes of Kenny Loggins, Ren decides it's time to change the town's rules about dancing. Meanwhile, Moore grows increasingly sympathetic towards Ren, due to his daughter (Singer)'s feelings towards him, and his being the target of abuse by the local bully (Jim Youngs) and the overly-conservative town council. Does Ren win his fight? What do you think?
Overall, this movie conformed to how I thought it would turn out: it was completely silly, but fun and an entertaining waste of a day off from school. The music was great (though certain songs were hardly used, namely my favorite, "Somebody's Eyes"), and is alone worth watching it for. The only excessively silly scene is Ren's gymnastic routine in an empty flour mill, which made me laugh my butt off at how stupid it was. Other than that, however, nothing was wrong with this movie, which was successful at what it set out to do: entertain. Just because it isn't "Doctor Zhivago" or "Lawrence of Arabia" doesn't mean it's a bad film.
The cast was good if unspectacular. Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer, Chris Penn and Sarah Jessica Parker (whom I almost didn't recognize!) were solid and it's easy to see why most of them went on to become stars; they look like they're having fun throughout and are very convincing. But John Lithgow walks away with the acting prize for this film; his character is surprisingly complex and well-developed for a film of this type, and it's to Lithgow's credit that he was able to make Shaw Moore a sympathetic character.
Is "Footloose" a great film? No. Is it one I'll want to watch over and over again? No. Did I enjoy it? Yes. And, as I said, for the sake of all of my friends at school who were in their production of it, I will ALWAYS think fondly of "Footloose".
I'll give "Footloose" a warm seven stars. I don't know what more to say on here, except I hope I get to see the musical version again (and not as the proposed film remake!).