Friday Flicks: Is 'Footloose' One of the Best Remakes Ever?

No matter how honorable its intentions, when is a remake considered too soon? Colin Farrell, for instance, is to star in a new version of Total Recall, which was only released in the 1990s. In fact, that film is so fresh that its catchphrases still roll off the tongue ("consider that a divorce!"). But Footloose only came out itself in 1984, which isn't exactly a time when talkies were a novelty. One thing's for sure: if it's to be deemed a success, it had better be good to placate the passionate Footloose fanbase.

If you're not familiar with the plot, it tells the story of Ren MacCormack (Kenny Wormald), the big-city high school rebel with a cause (more on that later), who has left Boston for the far smaller Southern town of Bomont. All he wants to do is dance (preferably to loud music), but he's confronted with a dancing ban which, is like, so unfair. Can Ren win over the locals? Will he get it on with his kindred spirit, Ariel (Julianne Hough), the town preacher's (Dennis Quaid) trouble-making daughter? And will Ren make you yearn for Kevin Bacon?

We won't give away the first two questions but can reassure you that he – yes! – brings home the bacon. Those sure are some footsteps to literally follow in, and Wormald would not have been your first (or possibly fifteenth) choice were you casting the film. But he clearly knows how to move, as befits a former backup dancer for Justin Timberlake. And while Timberlake himself might have been a flashier fit for Footloose, director Craig Brewer (known for Hustle & Flow and Black Snake Moan, which actually starred Timberlake) is still able to let loose. Who'd have thunk that the man who burst onto the scene with the gritty (and really rather excellent) Hustle & Flow would have wanted anything to do with this project? But with everybody involved seemingly having such a good time, it's like the weight of the original isn't even a factor. "I know you've got to do what you've got to do," says Ren, "but that ain't gonna stop it from happening." It's as if he's addressing skeptical audience members. In the fullness of time, this version of Footloose might just become the definitive one.

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