Updated remake of the 1984 Kevin Bacon musical, directed and written by Craig Brewer (Black Snake Moan).
City boy Ren McCormack (dancer and newcomer Kenny Wormald) moves to the small southern town of Bomont and suffers serious culture shock. In Bomont, thanks to an uptight Reverend (Dennis Quaid, Frequency), dancing and rock music have been banned. Ren rallies the town's teens, including the Reverend's daughter (Julianne Hough, Burlesque), and rebels against the status quo.
The original Footloose was a fun film, not a great film. It became a classic as the sum of its parts: the cheesy music, the dancing, the story – and Kevin Bacon. Craig Brewer’s new version suffers from the same melodrama and silliness as its predecessor – wait until you see how Ren gets to the famous warehouse dance scene – but you can forgive its flaws because it still has those ingredients intact. And while there’s no Bacon, Kenny Wormald as Ren McCormick – complete with James Dean hair – makes for a dashing rebel with a cause, injecting just the right combination of pained kid and who-cares attitude into the role to turn him into, perhaps, the next big pin-up. He even manages to make line dancing look cool.
Brewer, meanwhile, sticks almost religiously to the original story, the contemporary references occasionally jarring with its old-fashioned themes. Ren now dances with his iPod, the black kids krump in the carpark and the grown-ups worry about the recession. And that’s about where the updating ends. The script, the costumes, the music and the car are virtually the same; only the tone has had a makeover, cranking up the pace to the slick tempo of next generation dance flicks such as Step Up. If the remake’s goal was to turn a classic into an easily digested teen flick, they’ve succeeded. Time will tell if it’s still a classic but if they can make line-dancing look good then Footloose still has a pulse.
By Rebecca Barry Hill, Flicks.co.nz
I'm old enough to remember the original. It's bad enough that Hollywood keeps on remaking films to the point where I've basically seen everything before, but why remake this one? It just wasn't worth doing and should never have been made. Same about the new "Fame" film. The original was bad enough.
Why Oh why , I ask. And more importantly why do people go and watch remakes? I can (sort of) understand when foreign films get remade by americans (the poor buggers can't read, you see) but Hollywood hit being remade by Hollywood, what is that about ? The answer is money, money, money ! Thank god, there's plenty of creative film makers out there that do not make movie with purely financial intent.
A school holidays time waster for the older kids, wouldn't recommend taking your younger kids to it. While the Sexual references may go over their heads, the swearing won't. I expected more from the dance scenes, and while i went in to the Cinema expecting little, i still came out disappointed.
... lol
There have been far, far worse remakes out there. Harmless, feel-good fun.
Stepping into sacred shoes once worn by Kevin Bacon, Wormald handily owns the role for a new audience. Same goes for a terrific Miles Teller (Rabbit Hole) in the sidekick role of Willard so memorably originated by the late Chris Penn.
Footloose is an anodyne example of Hollywood's fixation on remakes but it is slightly better than I expected.
Star-crossed lovers Wormald and Julianne Hough can’t match Bacon and Lori Singer, but over-30s will tap feet and the Glee crowd will mime along.
Paramount's Footloose reboot never quite cuts loose enough to distinguish itself from the original.
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 6th Oct 2011.
Release date: October 6th 2011.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
