I wanted to but couldn't!

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

'Footloose', despite being an enormous hit back in the 80s, seems to be a very divisive love it/hate it film critically now.This reviewer neither loves or hates 'Footloose', from personal opinion it falls short of being great but the immense appeal is definitely understandable.Its biggest weak point is the story. Conceptually it's daft, and further hampered by laying it on too thick with the ridiculousness (the drug scene and the basic concept) and over-sentimentality (the Reverend's somewhat tacky reform that didn't really ring true compared to how his character was written in general). Ren's dance routine in the abandoned warehouse was far too randomly placed, coming at an unrealistically weird point in the film.Lori Singer being too old didn't bother me as much as it did other reviewers, but the overacting, constantly looking as if she was trying too hard, was less forgivable. The script is uneven, sometimes it's humorously light-hearted and feel good and there is a laudable attempt at providing depth with some more mature themes but too much of it is also cheesy and flimsy.However, the songs are toe-tappingly great, especially the title song "Footloose" and "Let's Hear it for the Boy". The dancing is spirited, and apart from that one scene with Ren the choreography and dance numbers are finger-snappingly infectious. 'Footloose' is a good-looking film too, beautifully shot and smartly photographed with some inventive visuals in the title song, while the direction is solid enough and the pacing sharp and energetic constantly.Singer aside, the cast are simply terrific, with Kevin Bacon in the role that made him a star making for a good free-spirited lead and the sadly late Chris Penn proving that he had the talent to make it bigger than he did. Dianne Wiest doesn't seem capable of giving a bad performance, while John Lithgow is effectively subtle and wisely reigns in in a role that could easily have been the opposite.Overall, falls short of being a great film but the appeal is definitely understandable, because there are a lot of good elements that outweigh the still quite big flaws. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Footloose is the reason why the 80's became such a hit there were so many great movies back then and this one is no exception i do like Kevin Bacon and he was really good in this movie and the dance scenes were really good performed and directed there's also some fight scenes and pretty much the final fight in the movie was the best i mean boot in the face. Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie i think a 59% or something and i try to understand how do they hate movies that they turned out to be Classics on todays standards? Critics even hated The Shining and Predator and even IMDb gave it a 6.5 i mean common? it's nowhere near that bad it's a great great movie.

This charming, cheese-tastic 80s teen flick is packed full of great songs. The soundtrack alone is enough to make it worth a watch. But on top of the fabulous soundtrack, the story is surprisingly good and its actually well acted. Lori Singer's character is rather intriguing and her progression throughout the film is possibly the best thing about this film, despite Kevin Bacon obviously getting all the credit as the main character, Ren. Chris Penn is an exceptional supporting actor and this film really does not deserve some of the hatred it gets. It's almost 'cool to hate'. As long as you're not expecting too much and just want a fabulously 80s, uplifting, feel-good film, then you can't go too far wrong with footloose.

Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer, Chris Penn, Sarah Jessica Parker, Dianne Wiest, Frances Lee McCain and John Lithgow star in this 1984 drama. Bacon (Wild Things) plays Ren, a rebellious teen who moves from Chicago to small town, Bomont with his mother, Ethel (McCain). He learns that Rock music and dancing have been banned in the town for some time by Reverend, Moore (Lithgow). Ren also has difficulty fitting in at first, but soon makes some friends and finds romance. Ren eventually persuades Moore and the townspeople to allow dancing and rock music for the town's offspring. Singer plays Moore's carefree daughter, Ariel who falls for Ren, the late, Penn (Reservoir Dogs) plays Ren's new pal, Willard whom he teaches to dance, Parker (Sex and the City) plays Rusty, Willard's girlfriend and Wiest (The Lost Boys) plays Moore's wife, Vi. This is a good 80's flick with a good cast & great music. I recommend this.