Footloose (2011) Reviews

• They cut too loose.

  zimmersgirl-412-3825932012-07-02

  Yes, the original film was like a lot of 80s movies--campy, silly and sometimes just about the music—but this remake should have been forgotten. While the writers kept quite a few original lines and the director kept some iconic scenes, something was lost in translation. That loss cannot be blamed on any one part of the film but rather the disgraceful whole. There some changes that I enjoyed. The opening scene, though storyline changed a bit, had more of an impact behind the impetus of the town's laws. The dancing was top notch by today's standards though a little raunchy a time or two. Kenny Wormald did justice to Kevin Bacon's dance in the warehouse, changing it just enough to make it his own. Julianna Hough kept up with him every step of the way during the dance scenes. Even the at the end, it was refreshing in this day of girl-power to see the football team told by a teammate to "man-up" and ask the girls to dance. That said, the rest of the film is an empty cardboard parody, lacking any sense of poignancy that endeared the original to a generation. The soundtrack fell below the standard set in 1984, though they sort of kept Whitney Houston's original "Let's Hear it for the Boy" when Willard learns to dance (a highlight in both films). Also, they changed Beamis Mill (which I believe dealt with concrete) to a cotton gin mill, very poor taste. The characters are hollow and thanks to the deletion of several key scenes, the actors are not given a chance to redeem themselves and give us characters we can empathize with. Kenny Wormald was a great choice for the dancing scenes. It's impeccable and when when he dances you can feel his passion come through the screen. His acting, however, was limited to cockiness and poker face. Kenny seemed to struggle to find the balance in that sweet spot between underacting and overacting. Two scenes that clearly show this is when his aunt asked him why the dance was important and when he stands before the town counsel. Both times lack passion, conviction and inflection. He could very well have been reading the nutrition panel on the side of a bag of bread. The closest I came to identifying with him was when his Uncle talked about him taking care of his mom. Kenny could not seem to remember he was supposed to be a rebel with a cause and not just another rebellious teenager. Julianna Hough is gorgeous and confident. Confidence like hers can hinder a performance when you are supposed to be playing a wild child who is acting out because of insecurity. I am trying to give her the benefit of the doubt as key scenes were not in the film that would have brought depth to her character. You miss out on the deep reasons behind the hurt and vulnerability that Lori Singer pulled off wonderfully. For example, the scene about types of music in the original between Ariel and Shaw went a long way to deepen the dynamics of father-daughter relationship, and helped build each character's journey in the minds and hearts of the audience. Or the scene with the music box, showed the vulnerability of Ariel as she shared who she really is with Ren, brave and yet fearful of rejection for her real self. Those scenes might have saved Hough's performance. Instead, her version of Ariel came across as an angry brat who looked good dancing. Dennis Quaid looked ill-at-ease throughout the entire movie, and even when he's angry he looks like he might lose his breakfast. Again, I am trying to give his performance the benefit of the doubt as they cut several key character-development scenes which would have shown how he grew throughout the course of the film. For example, the book-burning scene in the original is a major turning point for this character. John Lithgow's heart (original) could be seen in that scene when he sees what he's done. It's a point of no return when he had to really think about what he'd done and why and how he will proceed. Had they kept that scene, he would have reason, he would have believability. Now, instead, Shaw comes across as another fumbling close-minded dad/leader who had no clue about real life until his wife and daughter school him, along with a very brief talk with Ren. Andie MacDowell didn't have much chance with the majority of Vi's scenes cut. That said, had been included them it would not have mattered. Only once during this film did she remind me of the quiet strength and dignity that Dianne Wiest brought to the role (town meeting). Her few scenes with Dennis Quaid are almost belittling and instead of the gentle correction of Vi quietly convicting Shaw Andie's Vi seemed to constantly condemn him. Miles Teller as Willard is probably the most enjoyable of the entire cast. I know some out there have decried his performance, but I think he took the role and made it his own while retaining the child-like naiveté that was Willard. He was a little on the over-sexed teen side of things in this film (which got old), but otherwise, he was fun to watch. The flaws are many in this film. I would give this film 2 out of 5 stars simply for the dancing, The tag line is "Cut Loose" and they stripped away any of the sentimentality that would have made this a fun film to watch over and over again. They removed what made Footloose so foot loose. They simply cut too loose.

• Removed the good stuff

  rdnyscott2013-09-22

  What was the point? The director just went through and removed all the good stuff from the first movie. The original is based on events which took place in Elmore City, OK and yes, they banned dancing. It's hard for today's teens to fathom how religious the 80s were, which might be why they can't grasp a movie like this. You can't make a modern remake of this movie because today's kids aren't suffocating under this type of extreme religiosity. In the original, the ban is on dancing, including a teen prom. The kids are only being reasonable to protest this. In this remake, the ban is on "lewd and lascivious dancing" which the teens think they have a right to perform in the streets. In the original, Ren is an old soul. After his father dies, Ren and his mother must shack with his uncle, moving Ren from Chicago to a tiny town where dancing is banned. Instead of making things more difficult for his mother, Ren tries to fit in and treats everyone politely and respectfully, which results in him being bullied by the small towners. He even tolerates this and tries to play by their rules, never once pointing out the obvious insults a typical obnoxious city teen would have for the rural folks. In this remake, Ren is instead that typical bratty teen, thinking an accident of birth makes him better than everyone, and greeting practically the entire town with the insult that they are hicks. Despite this, the town isn't even that small and is actually multicultural, and the kids dance to hip hop! The only issue the kids face is that their parents don't want them bumping and grinding too suggestively to it! Yeah, that's Ren's issue. His parents are dead, but that's his issue. Even the judge in this town had long hair as a teen, and Ren's uncle reminds him of this, to justify Ren blasting the town with noise pollution. In the original, Ren must struggle to please an unreasonable uncle who blames him for things he didn't do, while this uncle has Ren's back before even asking him if he's guilty. Ren basically has no real struggles to speak of, yet he does a lot of whining anyway. We are supposed to sympathize enough over the loss of his parents to support him humping his girlfriend openly in the streets. The uncle thinks his little girls (and all little girls) should be exposed to this. Ren even declares to the adults that "as kids, its our job to do stupid things", yet he doesn't expand on what the jobs of adults might be. Ariel's father protests not so much because he's a pastor, but because he maintains some shred of hope that his daughter is still a virgin, but when she informs her father that she's not, and Ren informs her father that his daughter is a slut, the pastor gives up and accepts that he will be a grandfather soon. Ren's revelation that Ariel is already hot for his bod means she should be allowed to dance lewd and become a teen mother. In the original, the pastor and Ren finally bond because the pastor lost his son and Ren lost his father. Ren cleverly uses Bible verses to make his point at the town meeting, because it is the only way to convince a highly religious town that bases all of their rules on the Bible. He does this because he is a wise, respectful young man who isn't paranoid of a little studying. In the remake "sir, your daughter is already a slut" is the extent of Ren's argument to the pastor, yet it is (apparently) oddly persuasive. This movie is just laughably bad, so much so that even people who can't quite explain why it's laughably bad still know that it is.

• If you've seen the original no need to watch this one.

  Myrii2013-09-29

  I love the original and was really excited to see this remake. I was very disappointed. They copied the original, just added cell phones and CD's and a few modern dance moves. Same soundtrack, just a hint modernized, I'm pretty sure even some of the lines were exactly the same. There was nothing creative or original about this movie. You know that feeling where you see an actor/actress in a certain role and then you see them in another movie and it's like they were told to keep the same character but the film's setting is so completely different and all you can think is 'no, this is wrong, this just doesn't work'. It's exactly what I thought while watching this film but instead of the character(s) being wrong it felt like the whole movie was wrong. I would have even accepted it if the only thing they kept was the basic concept and redesigned the rest from scratch. But they played it too safe and ended up with a copy instead of a fresh film. That said if you've never seen the original Footloose it's alright.

• Not as awful as it could have been, but not overly great either

  DonFishies2011-10-02

  I enjoy bad movies, and enjoy bad remakes even more. So when the opportunity to get advanced passes to the atrocious looking remake of Footloose came, I pounced on them just out of the sheer will to see what kind of monstrosity Craig Brewer and company came up with. The film had gone through a number of changes, and had plenty of room to improve on the original. Sadly, I do not think there was ever any hope for it. After a horrific accident takes the lives of five high school seniors, the town of Bomont, Tennessee outlaws a number of activities for the teenage populace including dancing. Enter Ren McCormack (Kenny Wormald), a city kid and distinct outsider to the close knit Bomont townspeople. He is confused by the bans, and after making a few new friends, sets out to get them abolished. While the nostalgia factor may cloud the memories of some people, the original Footloose is really nothing more than a fun diversion packed alongside an absolutely infectious soundtrack that is still great even today. It is a fairly silly film really, but with the help of Kevin Bacon's 1984-era charm and charisma, the film remains a wildly enjoyable film. Yet somehow, in remaking the film for an audience in 2011, it seems like the filmmakers missed more than a few steps along the way. Now I will be the first to admit that this new remake does have a handful of fun scenes and astonishing dance choreography. The trailers do a good job of showing off just how great some of the dance moves are from this new cast, but what it does not let on too much is that most of these scenes come when they are replicating scenes from the original film. I basked in the glory of hearing Kenny Loggins blasting, while watching the various pairs of feet dancing to the beat. And seeing Willard (Miles Teller) learning how to dance is one of the highlights of the film, much like it is the original film. A key dance sequence late in the film is also significantly better than I could have ever predicted. But that is where the enjoyment ends. The rest of the film that surrounds these scenes is dull and lifeless, moving at a snail's pace and just going through the motions. There is very little fun to be had, and should someone venture into the film without having seen the original, they may wonder why anyone wanted to remake it in the first place. Instead of trying to improve and make the plot line less ludicrous, the filmmakers left the entire crux of the film the exact same. They merely changed a few character traits around, shuffled in some racy dialogue, and took out the tractors and added in school buses. They sucked out all the fun, and what is left seems like a mere project that was cranked out with little to no thought for what audiences may actually perceive to be enjoyable. Worse yet, the soundtrack is a totally forgettable affair. While it is the crucial element of the original film, it feels like a largely laughable affair here. I was originally intrigued at the idea of the film containing all the original songs, albeit covered by new artists. But somehow, all of the catchiness of the original tunes seems to have been stripped from these new ones. Instead, we are left with versions that have a country twang or overtly urban feel to them, and absolutely no reason to want to listen to these new versions ever again. I would be lying if I did not think the most memorable tracks in the film were the two original ones that somehow were deemed okay to fit into the film. I would register a guess that this is the influence of Brewer, who is best known for Hustle & Flow and Black Snake Moan. He has a distinctly Southern taste to his body of work, and practically forces it on this film. But in forcing this ideology, alongside two completely different genres of music, he crushes the film into submission, leaving many scenes an absolute mess. The acting in the film is even more disappointing. Dennis Quaid looks embarrassed in every scene he is in, overacting as much as he possibly can to forget that he is in the film. Andie McDowell looks like she wandered in off the wrong set, and just decided to stick around as a background character. Wormald is a poor substitute for Bacon, and is an even worse lead for a major motion picture. I realize he is a dancer first and foremost, but leaving him to carry this film was an awful decision. He looks frightened and confused for the majority of the film, and quivers through most of his lines. He lacks Ren's charm, and is never believable when he rebels against authority. You want to believe in this character, but all you will do is laugh at how staggeringly bad Wormald's performance is. Julianne Hough, the female lead, at least attempts to act. She comes close to a breakthrough in more than one instance, but she comes off a bit too amateur for her own good. She makes a great dance partner for Wormald, but for what little shred of chemistry she has, it is made totally moot when he opens his mouth. What redeems the film from being the awful travesty it should be is Teller's performance as Willard. The moment he walks on-screen, he has an energy to him that is simply unmatchable. He is the single best thing about the film, embodying the innocence, spirit and fun of Chris Penn's original performance. If you venture into this remake, see it for him and ignore the rest. You may find some remotely enjoyable experience buried in there somewhere. 4/10.

• Remake mistake

  Patricia7562012-11-20

  The original Footloose was a little film with a debatable script and a little budget. But contrary to all expectations was quite successful across the globe and became with time a cult movie and that thanks to the infectious music, dance routines quite impressive for the time, but most of all to a brilliant casting, believable and very suitable to their roles. Same thing that happened to Dirty Dancing. So take the original cast, the music and the novelty of the dance routines away from the equation and what is left is a very forgettable film with very unmemorable music, very ordinary dance routine and with a cast that makes you miss the old one every step of the way. Who was the guy playing the main role? I can't even remember his face that much mediocre he was and what about the leading lady, with no depth what so ever, painfully bad actors both with no chemistry between them. Do we need to equal the tension between the unassuming sex appeal of Kevin Bacon in that role and the irresistibly attractive vulnerability brought to the role by Lori Singer? Was it a not intentional carrier suicide taking up roles that are so vividly embedded in people memories? Was it? Well, I feel I need to mention, the countryman friend role, that in the original was so adorably played by Chris Penn, the guy who played the same part is such a poor takeoff, a caricature and his girlfriend…a bubbly full of energy Sara Jessica Parker against a very dull actress there to fill space and nothing more. Even the original father and mother role (the preacher and his wife) were far more engaging at the point that you could see their point of view and sympathize, the original roles were played by John Lithgow and Dianne Weist, (believable even as a loving couple) in this new version played by Dennis Quaid and Andy MacDowell , that I usually really like, here they fell flat unable to be convincing in their role as troubled preacher and over concern but very tender and caring father and as the effectual moderator, sweet but strong mother as it was in the original. I'm sorry but would this film be an original it could be only regarded as a mediocre film, being a remake of a little delightful cult film is a very sorry version, terrible, not recommended unless you watch it on television and want something boring to doze off.