'Footloose'

'Footloose' (PG-13) (2 STARS)

Writers: Dean Pitchford and Craig Brewer
Director: Craig Brewer
Starring: Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough, Miles Teller, Dennis Quaid, Ray McKinnon, Andie MacDowell, Ziah Colon

When I heard that they were remaking "Footloose" a big smile came across my face. I loved the original movie that made Kevin Bacon a star, it was a lot of fun with great music and energy. I am sad to say my smile turned upside down into a frown with this lackluster remake. Where is the energy of the original? Where is the character development, where is the great music? There are many things wrong with this remake and Blake Shelton's terrible redo of the title song is the least of them.

If you have seen the original and loved it I am pretty safe in saying that you will feel the same way I do about this fiasco. It is not the fault of it's two stars Kenny Wormald and Julianne Hough. They are decent here even though I was distracted by how the film makers make Hough into a dead ringer for a young Jeniifer Aniston. I am not being weird here, Hough looks so much like Aniston in certain scenes. She is attractive, looks good in tight jeans and red boots and has a sexy Miley Cyrus voice. Wormald is okay even though his Boston accent fades in and out. I will be safe here in saying that Wormald and Hough are no Kevin Bacon or Lori Singer, not even close.

The movie starts with a great and energetic pre credit sequence set to the original Kenny Loggins song. Then the movie shows us a brutal and effective car crash setting up the story. Those two great opening scenes kept me hopeful that this would work but those two scenes are pretty much all there is that works here. After that the movie slowly goes downhill from there little by little. The movie has pretty much the same plot of the original and is set in the small town of Bomont where dancing is outlawed. It is oulawed because a bunch of high school kids died in a car crash after drinking and partying.

The movie then introduces us to Ren who is sent to Bomont from Boston after his mother dies to stay with his aunt and uncle. Ren's big city ways don't blend in with this small town and it's Reverend. The Reverend Shaw lost his son in the car accident. He sees Ren as trouble especially after Ren starts hanging out with Shaw's daughter Ariel. Ren strikes up a friendship with Willard who was played by Chris Penn in the original. Here Willard is played by Miles Teller whose performance is the only one I really liked in this movie. This fine actor who made such an impression in "Rabbit Hole" a few years back steals this movie and runs away with it!

So let me start with some of the ways this movie is inferior to the original. First of all the Reverend Shaw character here is a step way down from the original movie's. John Lithgow's Reverend had more depth and seemed a more understanding, likable man. Here he is written as just a one note character who has no motivation. He is just seen as a stubborn, joyless man who turns nice in the end just because the screenplay says so. It is not the fault of Dennis Quaid but he never smiles in this movie and I found his character laughable and shallow. The wife of the Reverend in the original had spunk and backbone and was well played by Diane Wiest. Here the wife isn't even in the movie until the end and the role is a spineless, dull one and a thankless role for Andie MacDowell.

Then we have the character of Chuck who here looks 40 and I have no ideal why no one calls the cops because Chuck here looks like a child molester. I know Ariel is rebelling against her father but could she pick a guy who takes a bath and looks somewhat attractive. I don't remember the actor who plays Chuck but his performance is laughable and very bad. Then we have the music and including the horrible Shelton version of "Footloose" the music here sucks. The scene where Ren teaches Willard to dance was so wonderful in the original but here director Craig Brewer and the editor cut it into pieces and it suffers. They can thank Miles Teller for saving this scene with his humor. It is still the best moment in the movie thanks to Miles Teller who is funny and wonderful in this movie.

The movie ends with the fight with Chuck and the final dance and here the final dance is anti climatic and shoddy. I would love to give this movie a 1 star review but Miles Teller bumps this up to a 2 star movie. The more I think of this remake the more I hate it. This has in no way near the energy and likablility of the original. The dancing is clumsy and there is less dancing and music in this "Footloose". Except for Miles Teller there is nothing to really make you go see this movie. It will be interesting to see if this will become a monster smash hit. I think the only audience that will like this will be 12-16 year old girls. For everyone else this might make you cringe and laugh in all the wrong places.

P.S. If you want to see much better musicals or movies with a rock soundtrack I have a list of probably 100 movies better then this bad remake. Let's start with the original "Footloose" from 1984 which is more charming and has more energy and has Kevin Bacon. Also check out "The Commitments" from 1991 which has tons of energy and profanity and one of the best soundtracks I have ever heard. The list could go on for the 2011 "Footloose" is even worse than "Can't Stop the Music" and "Xanadu".