Footloose Take 2

The house is dark and quiet. The kids are sleeping soundly in their beds, and I am happy to say that I am not the one who got them into their jammies this evening. There are onion ring crumbs in the center console of the car along with a lingering scent of hamburgers, left over from a post-movie dinner at Hires. Yes, Date Night is over. Thank you dear Radants; we had a lovely time.


Troy and I decided to spend our evening off at the movies. After finding the world's best parking spot ON THE PLANET at the Gateway Mall (how did we get so lucky I'll never know) we made our way inside to enjoy a movie. I'm so happy my husband was game for watching Footloose. Luckily we both watched the original show enough that it holds a soft spot in both our hearts despite all its cursing and teen sex, alcohol and drug use....hmmmm. This doesn't sound like a very uplifting movie. And yet, we both found it to be completely delightful. I almost couldn't help myself from jumping up and dancing to the music. I did actually sing along to a lyric here and there but hopefully Troy was the only person who heard me.

My thoughts? A great remake. Mostly true to the original with more a sense of homage paid than actual repetition, though a couple of things were exactly the same, which I loved. Except her dress at the end. I hated it then and I hate it now. Ren was just darling, Ariel was much more lovely although still ....just skanky. I have definitely aged since I fell in love with Kevin Bacon's Footloose: my inner parent was cringing through most of what these kids were up to without their parents knowing. Uncle Wes was a hero and I loved that he was on Ren's side this go 'round. Rusty, as in the original version, was so much more likeable than Ariel, and as before, my heart will always belong to Willard. Let's hear it for the boy.

If none of the above paragraph made any sense then you obviously did not have enough Footloose in your life.  Which is not necessarily a bad thing.  And it's probably too late now.  I don't know if you can watch the old Footloose now and love it like we did - that ship may have sailed.  Much like "Strange Brew." I'm sure I would have loved it had I watched it as a teen but trying to enjoy for the first time in my 30's didn't go so well.  I found it unbearably lame, but my  husband feels that more time and effort needs to be applied and has faith that I will someday love it.  Perhaps he would be willing to make a trade: I spend some serious time with Strange Brew if he does the same for Girls Just Want to Have Fun.   Never going to happen.