'Footloose' remake shakes things up, but still respects original
"Footloose" has been rebooted, and man it can kick!
Craig Brewer's update of the beloved 1984 Kevin Bacon teen musical does exactly what the Coen Brothers remake of the John Wayne western "True Grit" did.
It finds that sweet spot between respecting the original and creating something fresh, exciting and relevant for a new generation.
Brewer's "Footloose" is more raw, sensual and sexier than Herbert Ross' original tale of teen rebellion and independence.
The choreography - especially Ren McCormick's angry dance - feels more spontaneous and fluid here than in the original where the quick-cut choreography was virtually created in the editing room following the influential "Flashdance" mania from a year earlier.
Brewer's remake comes in the wake of "High School Musical" and TV's "Glee," but wisely doesn't attempt to duplicate those successes.
"Footloose" adds a couple of nonwhite characters to modernize and diversify the Bomont student body. It updates the dialogue to be bolder and more direct. Ren even shows how using your intellect (and library) can help impact your world.
Yet, the original's essential elements are kept intact.
After a reinvented nod to Ross' dancing shoes montage, Brewer's movie immediately announces that this isn't your parents' "Footloose."
It begins with high school students drinking, dancing and partying before taking to the road outside of the small southern town of Bomont.
A fiery car crash later, five kids are dead.
The city council, including Rev. Shaw (Dennis Quaid), the grieving father of a teen son killed in the crash, votes to outlaw dances to prevent such tragedies again.
Right away, we see the dance ban from the perspective of a mourning community, not as in the original film and stage musical where we first identify with outsider Ren from the big city.
Ren is played by newcomer Kenny Wormald, a friend and backup dancer for Justin Timberlake. He's wiry, passionate and speaks with an accent from his hometown of Boston. So, the filmmakers changed his character from a Chicagoan to a Bostonian.
The charismatic "Dancing With the Stars" champ Julianne Hough stars as Ariel, Rev. Shaw's rebellious, sexually active daughter wearing the Holden Caufield memorial red cowboys boots.
Neither Hough nor Wormald is a supremely talented actor, but under Brewer's guidance, they let their natural chemistry and dancing abilities fill in the gaps.
Miles Teller (from the widely overlooked drama "Rabbit Hole") provides deadpan appeal as Ren's new sidekick Willard, the kid who can't dance (yet). It's a winning role, one originated by the late Chris Penn.
Andie MacDowell plays Vi, the minister's wife, a role that seems fairly benign. But wait until she finally speaks up and lays the situation out to her myopic husband in a scene that not only underscores her wisdom and patience, it resonates with dramatic truth.
Two parts in "Footloose" don't resonate well at all.
One is a ridiculous old school bus race (subbing for the original tractor challenge) in which Ren takes on Ariel's older, meaner lover Chuck (Patrick John Flueger).
The other is a quick, distracting rumble in the parking lot outside the big dance, a physical altercation that feels shoehorned into the movie and makes for an awkward transition into the expectantly jubilant dancing-with-the-non-stars blowout finale.
<b>“Footloose” </b>
★ ★ ★
Starring: Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough, Dennis Quaid, Andie MacDowell, Miles Teller
Directed by: Craig Brewer
Other: A Paramount Pictures release. Rated PG-13 for drug use, language, sexual situations, violence. 113 minutes