Should be renamed "Footsore' instead

Rating: 3/10 (29 August 2010)

One of the scenes has Kevin's character accosting the mayor of a cow-town to revoke the legislation that barred dancing and any form of conviviality that incensed "sexual tension" among teenagers. With palpably weird contortions to his mouth, he looked as if he would decorate the room with the most vibrantly colorful vomit.Or he could be compared to a frog, constantly puffing his mouth as if cursed by Ron Weasley's cracked wand! The enigma remains unsolved. It would be too abstruse to figure out.
I couldn't empathize with Bacon's character at all. His elusive behavior- a stroke of genius or simply amateurish writing and acting? I incline towards the latter. In the beginning, he looks like a new kid on the block, shy, taciturn. Then he plays loud music and is apprehended by the police. Every factor in town sort of militates his obscure passion for dancing, his happiness and acceptance into the society - like Karate Kid sans much sense. His so-called penchant towards dancing was impertinent- the director perhaps couldn't find any good choreographers and this hampered the whole movie. It more felt like a musical, except for an instance where Kevin trapezes around the factory like "Welder Tarzan"! That makes it a sports movie.
Kevin is too young and inexperienced to tackle this fairly challenging performance. He couldn't emote well at all- courtesy the daffy script which seemed like excerpts picked from various other cheesy movies that were a vogue in the 80's. The 80s in Hollywood was the beginning of a Renaissance - as it gave birth to modern, crass and impetuous 'rebels' or 'iconoclasts'. But it was just the salad days, where little cubs pretended to mime lions and puppies yelped at bull-mastiffs in leashes. It was a bit embarrassing- the barbaric, uncouth bird-nest of a hair (seriously, how much hair can a human bear!), fizzed out jokes interspersed with expletives just to sound cool (Saturday Night Fever), appearing buffoonish in front of equally ludicrous looking peers, eve-teasing (and lots of it), remonstrating established principles of the society, no matter how moral or otherwise, and the most hide-your-face-cos-its-unwatchable part is the tight-fitting, zip-ripping trousers worn by both sexes that could suffocate a human body. People in that town are hypocrites for sure- they disallow convivial celebrations and merriment while they have no worries about girls accentuating their figures in tight-fitting jeans. Doesn't that galvanize the lubricious hormones of guys into action? The writer had imposed so many restrictions, so why not just add another one that forced girls to wear frocks. They could have touched that silly issue too.
I cannot comment much on the performances since they were too scarce in the film, which is a great worry since its based on dance. Even Million Dollar Baby, that took a dramatic shift in the second half at least had a balance of both elements. I could hear lot of sweet cadence though. "Holding out for a Hero" is my personal favorite. Anyway, shifting back to Kevin, I feel that he should have worked more on his facial expressions and confidence. Its not about getting fragrantly expressive to an overtly theatrical extent, but more of conviction with a pinch of theatricality. Rubbing the hair frequently, biting teeth, picking nose often etc are habits imbibed by many from childhood. Even repetitive hand gestures in a similar manner- all add to a sense of naturalism. Or, if he did want to keep it simple, an endearing performance would have been enough. Sadly, he doesn't have both.
The priest/mayor is fine though as the self-denying pedant who is antagonized by the young blood. Two short confrontations, one to bury the hatchet, between Kevin and him, weren't enough since they follow different ideologies and should have discussed more about their views with one other. The daughter, also Kevin's love interest, endeavors but sort of falters in her role, even though she's better than Bacon. And her suicidal tendencies were covered in a tacky manner.
None of the others are worth a mention. Sarah is fine (and by fine, I mean compared to others in the movie), Kevin's best friend is unintentionally funny. The worst part was the short brawl between him and the old man and the focus on Sarah and him for about five minutes sitting and watching others dance. It was tedious.
Another problem was the pacing. The movie is laborious mostly, only mildly (and embarrassingly) entertaining in some sequences. The story is downright silly and unnecessarily convoluted. The director took too much into his hands like a bartender trying to juggle wine-bottles starts to sing and dance along and falls flat in all.
My Verdict Performance: 4/10 Story: 2/10 Direction: 3.5/10 Music/ Choreography:5/10 Overall: 3/10