Posts
2011, 09-30; writing completed 10-16:
Review of film: “FOOTLOOSE”
The place was Elmore City, a small town in the southern part of the state of Oklahoma. Around 1900, the municipality enacted a BAN on DANCING in the town... It took 80 years for the ban to be LIFTED, allowing its kids to dance at their prom in 1980...
... Around that time, a songwriter named DEAN PITCHFORD read about the situation, & wrote a SCRIPT based on the general story-- which in 1984 became a film called “FOOTLOOSE” (starring Kevin Bacon & Lori Singer), for which he co-wrote all the SONGS in it (including the title number & “Let’s Hear It For The Boy”)...
... This is a NEW 113-minute PG-13 rated version of the movie, directed by CRAIG BREWER (who did “HUSTLE & FLOW” in 2005 & “BLACK SNAKE MOAN” in ’06)...
... The story starts out with a bunch of high school kids in the town of Bomont, seemingly in the southern state of Alabama... They’re celebrating their GRADUATION by attending a dance party...
... In returning home with other friends (with some apparent underage drinking having gone on), driver Robert “Bobby” Moore (BENJAMIN DAVIS) is involved in an ACCIDENT which KILLS him & others in the car...
... Ben’s father, Reverend Shaw Moore (DENNIS QUAID), was distraught by the event, &, being on the City Council, urges the group to BAN dancing to avoid such a disaster ever occurring AGAIN...
... Ben’s younger sister Ariel (JULIANNE HOUGH) very much misses her brother, but responds very negatively at the RESTRICTIONS placed on her by her father Dennis...
... As part of her rebelliousness, she tends to act fairly WILD in “private”, becoming a fairly “loose” young woman when with her vehicle-racing boyfriend Chuck Cranston (PATRICK JOHN FLUEGER)...
... The scene shifts to an introduction of Ren MacCormack (KENNY WORMALD)-- a teenager who’s had a hard life:
... He was raised by a wonderful single mother in the Boston area, whom he diligently took CARE of during her extended battle with cancer which recently TOOK her LIFE...
... Having no other relatives in the area where he was living, he goes to stay with his mother’s BROTHER, Wes Warnicker (RAY McKINNON), in Bomont...
... Ray greets him warmly, & Kenny is very kind in how he treats Ray’s wife & two young daughters... Arrangements have been made for Kenny to finish his last year of HIGH SCHOOL in the town...
... Knowing that Kenny is very talented mechanically, car-dealer Ray gives him a run-down VW beetle CAR he can fix up as his own, which Kenny happily sets to doing...
... He quickly gets the VW in working condition, & sets off for a drive, playing his specially-installed sound system in the typical “super-LOUD” setting that teenagers seem to prefer...
... Kenny is stunned when he’s soon pulled-over by a COP & given a ticket for causing NOISE-pollution which the town OUTLAWS... He can’t believe what he hears, but he’s smart enough to be generally “respectful” rather than smart-alecky towards the young cop...
... Kenny eventually arrives at the Bomont high school...
... Since he’s cute-looking, he’s quickly viewed with interest by JULIANNE...
... He soon literally runs into a tall guy named Willard (MILES TELLER), who, instead of being angry, welcomes him in a FRIENDLY manner & quickly becomes his BEST friend...
... Kenny is also quickly accepted by football star Woody (SER’DARIUS BLAIN)...
... Miles tells him there’s very little to really DO in the small town (which isn’t much of a surprise to Kenny)...
... In the garage / workshop at Wes’ home, Ser'Darius & Miles tell Kenny that there’s no DANCING allowed in town...
... Ken thinks they’re KIDDING by telling him that, but they both insist they’re SERIOUS, & eventually explain that the law was put on the books at the urging of Reverend DENNIS after his son was killed...
... At one point, a bunch of kids congregate at a local restaurant... Since there aren’t any “authorities” around, with the approval of the place’s owner, they play a bunch of DANCE MUSIC & set to dancing together as COUPLES in the parking area...
... Never-shy Julianne quickly starts “sidling-up” seductively to KENNY, who’s happy to “oblige” her with similar moves...
... To no great “shock”, who should chance by but Julianne’s dad Dennis, & he quickly angrily REMOVES her from there, complaining that he wants her to stay away from Kenny who he feels is “BAD news” from the way he’d gotten ticketed for playing loud music & the like...
... Rather than “rag” on Kenny, his uncle Ray DEFENDS him (such as to a school official), saying he’s long shown that he’s a basically GOOD kid, citing how he uncomplainingly cared for his MOM as she was dying...
... Since Julianne keeps showing Kenny she’s interested in him, Kenny regularly HANGS OUT with her & her girlfriend Rusty (ZIAH COLON), along with Miles & periodically Woody...
... At one point, they go out to the racetrack owned by Patrick’s father, where Patrick is “showing-off”...
... Seeing that Kenny is “competition” for Julianne’s attention, he challenges Kenny to a race in BUSES-- but Ken DOESN’T BACK DOWN to him, which impresses Julianne all the more...
... When Patrick acts “pushy” towards Julianne sexually at one point, she tells him in-effect to get LOST, & she spends more & more time with KENNY on the “sly” (since Dennis is so against him)...
... They go to another town nearby to DANCE, with Ziah & Miles (who doesn’t dance since he admits to Kenny that he doesn’t know how)... There’s a lengthy scene of LINE-DANCING by Kenny & Julianne to songs sung by Country & Western stars (such as Carrie Underwood)...
... Kenny decides that it’s grossly ridiculous & UNFAIR that the young people in Bomont are FORBIDDEN to dance in their own town, & he tells Julianne & Miles & others that he wants to FIGHT to have the ban overturned...
... He’s told by various people (both friends & family) that he needs to try to do it in a “POLITE” manner lest he alienate the older & more politically-“connected” people in town...
... Kenny thus starts to investigate the situation, & works to devise “arguments” & actions supporting the position he & the other kids take...
... Will Kenny SUCCEED in getting the town to take a more “MODERN” & open-minded view towards kids & how they should live their lives?...
... Will Reverend Dennis ever “ACCEPT” Kenny & also his daughter Julianne’s wish to live her OWN life which has been “overshadowed” by what had happened to her deceased brother?...
... What will happen “between” JULIANNE & KENNY?...
... Because this movie was a “remake” of a sort of “iconic” film, you almost tend to “expect” that it will FAIL-- but it DOESN’T do that, in part because of wise CASTING!...
... Both the leads are very FINE dancers: Julianne (born in 1987) is well-known from her work on “Dancing With The Stars” ...
... Kenny (born in 1984) is less well-known by the general public, but he’s been in dance classes since he was 6 & has won many dance COMPETITIONS & awards in the past (which led to his performing in a Justin Timberlake tour)...
... Miles is very effective playing the “aw shucks” comical FRIEND of Kenny. Time & again, the audience LAUGHED in appreciation at his “down home” humor & his good attitude in things like his willingness to have Kenny teach him to dance...
... This is NOT a “musical” per-se, but rather a DRAMA with music & some humor: people do not suddenly burst out regularly singing or the like, & the actors work to play things “straight” rather than in an exaggerated “take-off” way...
... Thus, it’s a “GOOD-TIME” experience, with the actors & audience having a FUN time, with feel-good C&W / pop type MUSIC & DANCING serving to “ACCENT” the overall situation & mood...
... It’s a “simple” movie, not designed to be anything “great”. But, since it’s really WELL-DONE by all involved, I’m rating it at 8.25 out of 10 stars...
[ NOTE: You can easily SHARE this Posting with your friends or family by sending them an automatic e-Mail LINK via clicking on the “M” button in the lower left-hand corner under “VOICE OF SILENCE” below... ]
(o_
/\
/\
= = = [ 4 B&W I&D ] … ( <> ^ <> ) ...
* - - - - - - - - - *
Facebook: VOICE OF SILENCE
No comments:
Post a Comment