Footloose (Reviewed on August 18th/98)
Starring Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer, John Lithgow
"Footloose" has only one goal in mind: to reel in an audience with cheesy sentiment and feel-good antics. And I hate to admit it; I fell for it.
The movie is about a teenager (Bacon) who moves to a small town from the big city, and discovers that dancing has been banned by the local Reverend (Lithgow). He ends up falling for the preacher's daughter (Singer) and showing the whole town what the magic of dance can do.
As mentioned at the beginning of this review, "Footloose" is an extremely hokey and predictable teen drama. There are virtually no surprises, and the writing is second-rate. So why did I enjoy it so much? For one thing, the cast is great. Kevin Bacon oozes charisma in an early role. We're rooting for him right from the start, and, unlike most films of this genre, Bacon doesn't play him as the "Rebel without a Clue" sort. Yes, he does rebel, but he's also polite when he needs to be. And he never broods.
The rest of the cast is equally impressive. John Lithgow, seen here playing a normal guy for a change, is playing a man who would normally be a flat out villian. But Lithgow plays him as a concerned father who is trying to do what he feels is best for his daughter. By the end of the film, we feel a genuine sense of love and understanding between him and the Lori Singer character.
Another nice touch is the music. We see the parents of the kids complaining that the music they listen to is filled with "sexual innuendos", but that's not true at all. The title track, performed by Kenny Loggins, is upbeat and fun. During the final sequence, I was overcome with the urge to get off the couch and start dancing. Of course, I soon realized that would be a little pathetic.
Anyway, "Footloose" is a charming little surprise. Don't let the premise prevent you from watching it. It sucked me in, and it'll do the same to you.
*** out of ****
Dave "Loopy" Nusair dnusair@chat.carleton.ca
; "The Artist Formally Known As Prince is now going by just The Artist. ; : Despite this, I will still refer to him as The Fruit." : ; -Norm MacDonald ;
Dept. of Good Vibes, Come visit my Reel Film Reviews site Carleton University at "http://chat.carleton.ca/~dnusair"
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews