Footloose Redux Review

Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to get invited to a sneak preview of the new Footloose. I have a dear friend that works in the Industry . I’ve always been a fan of Juliette Hough’s(Pronounced as “Huff,”) work , so I chose to forego all my stressors, in order to just "let loose," at Footloose.

Though I’ve supported Juliette Huff’s work since 2009, I was a bit of Footloose purist. Could anyone ever sway like Kevin Bacon or strut like Lori Singer? Would the teens be forbidden to not only dance but to watch Dancing with the stars? In the internet age, would anyone buy the premise that a preacher could singlehandedly put a stop, much less a dent in teen dance? Could or should Blake Shelton ever recapture the thwarted longing of Kenny Loggin’s infectious pop sensation. In other words, I was skeptical. Ok, guys, I wasn’t just skeptical, I was concerned.

Soon into the scene where the minister forbids the teen’s in town from dancing, all of those judgemental predispositions began to fade. The next scene opens with all the youth dancing on the sly. You’d have to be Lot’s wife not to want to dance too. The modern day Kevin Bacon is a fresh faced youngster with a winsome smile, sinewy legs, and missing the baggage of those 6 degrees of separation games. Kenny Wormald plays Ren McCormack, the town’s Nelson Mandela of boogying. When the preacher threatens him and four other dancers with death, he takes to a wharehouse( to not only dance in private, but to start sowing the seeds of a choreographed revolution.)

When two of the dancers are beheaded, the choreography takes on an urgency that is eerily reminiscent of dance I witnessed in Pashtun, Pakistan, when I reviewed movies for the Sharia law movie review. Even Chaz Bono's frantic Paso Dobles,last Monday, pales in comparison. I have no doubt that once Footloose is re-released, “Please Louise,” will serve as the rallying cry of the Arab Spring.

The dance averse preacher is played to perfection by Randy Quaids brother, Dennis. The scene where he calls for the the head of Lady Gaga is played with astute menace. The scene where he sends his henchmen to stone to death Hough’s sister( Played by Avril Mcphee) for being caught with the Wii’s dance revolution is hard to watch, but worth it. Oowwee, Marie, indeed. The rest of the cast convincingly play teens and teachers stuck in a small town where violent death is punishment for “cutting loose.”

Now I gotta cut

Loose, footloose
Kick off your Sunday shoes
Please, Louise
Pull me offa my knees
Jack, get back
C'mon before we crack
Lose your blues
Everybody cut footloose
You're playing so cool
Obeyin every rule
Dig way down in your heart
You're yearning, yearning for some
Somebody to tell you
That life ain't passing you by
I'm trying to tell you
It will if you don't even try
You can fly if you'd only cut

Loose, footloose
Kick off your Sunday shoes
Oowhee, Marie
Shake it, shake it for me
Whoa, Milo
C'mon, c'mon let's go
Lose your blues
Everybody cut footloose
We got to turn you around
You put your feet on the ground
Now take a hold of your ball
I'm turning it

(REPEAT)

originally published at Fiction eek