Dancing with the new stars in 'Footloose'
Kenny Wormald plays Ren and Miles Teller plays Willard in "Footloose, " directed by Craig Brewer, from Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment. Credit: Paramount Pictures/
Ren MacCormack, a rebel without a dance floor, delivers a youthful manifesto in "Footloose." Teenagers, he says, have a sacred duty "to live, to play our music way too loud and act like idiots."
Deep? Maybe not. But timeless? Definitely. And so is "Footloose," a high-spirited remake of the 1984 youth flick that made a star of Kevin Bacon and may do the same for newcomer Kenny Wormald as Ren. Driven by an energetic cast moving to a thoroughly modern beat -- hip-hop, country, punkified blues -- "Footloose" testifies to every generation's need to be heard, even if they're still blasting Kenny Loggins' inanely catchy title track.
The slim but sturdy story (by Dean Pitchford, who also co-wrote that Loggins tune) remains unchanged: Ren, a James Dean-ish misfit, relocates from Boston to tiny Bomont, Ga., where the Rev. Shaw Moore (Dennis Quaid, replacing John Lithgow) has banned rock music and its twin demon, dancing. While courting the preacher's daughter, Ariel (Julianne Hough, of "Dancing With the Stars"), and avoiding her volatile boyfriend (Patrick John Flueger), Ren also sets the stage for a classic battle between youth and old age.
Like the original, "Footloose" succeeds mostly thanks to its charismatic cast of fledglings. Wormald, a backup dancer who came recommended by Justin Timberlake, hides a rough edge behind his fine features; newcomer Miles Teller comfortably fills Christopher Penn's boots as the amiable Willard; and Hough is believable as a troubled townie. Andie MacDowell and Ray McKinnon play the sensitive grown-ups.
Director Craig Brewer ("Hustle and Flow") mirrors the original movie and shrewdly updates it. The kids now bounce to Southern rapper David Banner, while Ren's famous "angry dance" is set to the White Stripes' blistering "Catch Hell Blues." Also, the number of nonwhite characters has increased (from zero). As for Ariel's cowboy boots, Ren's vintage VW Bug and the movie's big, glittery finale -- well, some things never go out of style.
PLOT A dancing city kid battles a puritanical small town. RATING PG-13 (language, sexual themes, brief drug use, mild violence)
CAST Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough, Dennis Quaid
LENGTH 1:53
PLAYING AT Area theaters
BOTTOM LINE A bouncy, buoyant, irresistible dance flick that smartly updates the 1984 original for a new generation
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