Footloose

Every once and a while, a man must make a sacrifice and see a movie he is less than thrilled to see because his wife puts up with action flicks, horror movies, and football weekends!! However, my wife has proven to me that she will only drag me to movies that she knows I will love. Two years ago I was dragged to what I would call the sleeper summer hit, Mamma Mia. Singing and dancing is not very realistic, but that was a fun movie.
Footloose is this years dancing surprise! I assumed I would sit through two hours of singing and dancing but then on Sunday we would go see a horror movie. Not so- this movie was great! After so many action packed, intense, and suspenseful movies, it's nice to have a relaxing and just fun movie! The story was identical to the original and there are some very fun nods to the Kevin Bacon classic.
For those of you unfamiliar with the story, Footloose is about a small town that endures a tragedy when some kids get killed in a drunk driving accident. The town decides to follow the leadership of one of the victims fathers, the town minister. In this movie, the minister is played by Dennis Quaid. The minister decides to work with the city council to introduce laws banning dancing, drinking, and playing loud music. Everyone seems to either follow the new laws or break them in secret but when an outsider arrives and starts school he challenges the local authority the minister has by encouraging his fellow students to dance and have fun. Of course this would not be a classic story if the main character doesn't fall in love with someone. To complicate the town's struggle at balancing fun and safety, the newcomer rebel has fallen for the ministers daughter who is still coping with the loss of her brother.
The cast was really impressive. For a cast of relatively unknowns, the acting was good, the comedy light, and the dancing incredible. Kenny Wormald plays the main character and rebel outsider Ren MacCormack. Kenny has had minor parts in You Got Served and Center Stage but in this movie he takes the spotlight and has some incredible scenes. Julianne Hough plays the attractive ministers daughter, Ariel Moore. Julianne is best known from Dancing with the Stars. Unfortunately her attractiveness is constantly up front on the screen but her dancing talent took more of a back track to Kenny's character. And Miles Teller plays the funny best friend Williard. The comedy that Miles brings to the movie makes the movie easier to swallow for men. Having someone that funny in the movie makes you forget you are watching a movie about dancing. But even as a guy, you can appreciate the dancing, especially during the final scene. Some of the things the back up dancers were doing were absolutely mind blowing.
So men, grab a Daiquiri and watch your wife's Footloose DVD while she is out with her girlfriends one night. I think you will be pleasantly surprised and will realize at the end, you kind of had fun!



Movie Poster from: http://www.onlinemovieshut.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/footloose-movie-poster.jpg