I just saw Footloose for the first time (thanks Cameron), and I have some things to say. First off, I have no idea if the people who made this movie set out to make some 80’s cheese, or if they actually thought they made a good movie. Because this is not a good movie. But I LOVED IT because of this. Everything, from the acting to the editing to damn fight scenes is ridiculous and cheesy, and that’s what makes it so endearing. This is a bad movie, don’t get me wrong, but it’s almost as if it knows that it’s bad, and it just runs with it. So, before I tear this thing to shreds, let’s go over some things that I liked.
First off, this movie has an absolutely killer soundtrack, as I’m sure you already know. The music in this movie perfectly encapsulates pretty much every aspect of 80’s music, even if the placement of the songs doesn’t always make sense (I’m looking at you, Holding Out For a Hero). The absolute best part of the movie is when Ren goes to the warehouse and Moving Picture’s Never plays as he exaggeratedly drinks and smokes, then breaks out into a gymnastic dance number where it’s obvious that Kevin Bacon is not really there half of the time. The dancing during these numbers is also really good, well-executed even if they make absolutely no sense. This movie isn’t like West Side Story or something, where the characters break into song, like a traditional musical. It’s not even like Baby Driver, where actions are synchronized with music. No, music that’s sung by someone else plays in the background and the characters just break out into dance. The whole movie is like a flash mob.
The last thing that I loved and want to point out are the “fight” scenes. First, there’s the part where Ren and Chuck have what’s essentially a goddamn tractor joust. As Bonnie Tyler blares in the background, these two idiots run tractors at each other, and Ren only wins because his shoelace gets stuck on the brake pedal and Chuck jumps. Yeah, I know, it sounds like an episode of a kids cartoon. The other fight that’s worth mentioning is at the end of the movie, when Chuck and his goons are fighting Willard as he’s trying to take Rusty to the dance. Ren comes in says “You’re a real hero when it’s five on one”, and then literally dances into Chuck’s face. He does this, like, Newsies kick, flying into his face. The ensuing fight is standard beat-em-up fare, but that one moment is forever going to be remembered by me for the sheer stupidity of the whole thing. He just dances into his face. My friends Cameron, Chason, and I literally turned it into a self-contained meme after the movie was over. In short, that singular moment is amazing and encapsulates everything I love about this movie.
There are other things about this movie that are just stupid, but not as endearing, like some of the editing. The movie would randomly cut to some other scenario without wrapping up the current one, and it was kind of jarring. Something would happen, there would be a second of awkward silence, and then we would jump into something that’s in the middle of happening. It was very amateur-looking, to say the least. The plot is also stupid as hell. I don’t know if this is supposed to be an allegory for something or if it’s literally just a story about a kid who tries to bring dancing back from being outlawed. Either way, it’s dumb. The plot, however, does sometimes become one of those things that’s so stupid that it’s great, like when Ren gets all emotional in the courthouse for a hearing over the legality of fucking dancing. That’s the 80’s everybody. Finally, the acting isn’t great, and not at the level of say, The Room, where it’s enjoyably atrocious, but just annoyingly bland. The girl who plays Ariel is bad. The characters are pretty one-note, except for Reverend Moore, played by John Lithgow, who has the insane revelation that maybe dancing isn’t some awful, Satanic curse on humanity. In the end, though, these don’t really matter, because when you’re watching this movie, you’ll be having way too much fun at the ridiculousness of every scene and situation to even care. In the end, this movie is pure 80’s cheese: it’s trashy, “edgy”, and stupid, and I love it dearly.
So those are my thoughts on Footloose (the original one). I’m thinking of starting a series like this about old movies. Let me know if you liked this article and want to see more like it. Until then, h.
State of Confusion 