Footloose (1984)

DVD, Somerville, MA

June 03, 2007

** / ****

In the hierarchy of good/bad movies, those films that are unfathomably silly, unintentionally amusing, and unstoppably entertaining, Footloose is somewhere in the middle. Not a stinker like Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo yet nowhere near the crème de la crème of golden geese, Point Break, Footloose is an alright movie with a dynamite soundtrack that inevitably sinks under the weight of its self-imposed, inadequately resolved complexity and dull story-telling. Kevin Bacon devotees might tell you different, but Dirty Dancing this ain’t.

Footloose tells a story we’ve seen a million times: a stylish new kid comes to town (Kevin Bacon), shakes up the conservative community with his “Rock N’ Roll,” and inevitably achieves their acceptance while enlightening them to the bigger picture. Along the way he outsmarts high school bullies, steals the villain’s best girl (Lori Singer), and gets the community leader’s backing (John Lithgow as a reverend!) just in the nick of time to throw a rollicking senior prom set to a pumping ‘80s soundtrack. Entertaining, for sure, but also kind of boring and way in over its head in the grand scheme of movie grandiosity.

In more specific terms, Footloose is kind of bumbling, forcing its characters into ludicrous complexity and then throwing the rules of resolution out the window. Impossible changes of heart, mind, and athletic ability occur in the span of a montage or sometimes, as in the case of the Preacher, the snap of the fingers. Top forty tunes blare over the soundtrack waking us up from boring speeches that are supposed to clear things up but rarely do. These cues serve as unintentional hilarity, silly fun that when combined with a story that wants to me so much more than it is, never quite amounts to a satisfying movie. A few biting and interesting lines jut out here and there grasping our attention but for the most part its just blah, blah, blah by-the-numbers story-telling and dialogue.

No matter, Kevin Bacon is “The Man” in Footloose and it’s easy to see how he went on to bigger and better things. The real star, however, is the awesome ‘80s soundtrack. Featuring a smorgasbord of unabashedly dated yet quintessential power-pop (nearly every cut is a classic), it is the one aspect of Footloose keeping it from being as forgotten today as Loverboy (an infinitely better and much more entertaining ‘80s flick).

Like Top Gun, another ‘80s classic that never won me over, Footloose is an OK film that will surely have you laughing, snickering, ooing, ahhhing, and probably dozing off as well. There are numerous ‘80s flicks more well crafted and certainly more enjoyable and essential viewing than Footloose. The soundtrack, on the other hand, is without a doubt the best of the best and absolutely essential for every child of the ‘80s.