I wish I could say that Bacon sizzles in this "rebellious youth" tale, but he doesn't. There is a lot of ham on the screen and corn in the flaky dialog. This is a typical underdog film with all the tired clichés: the bad guys end up with egg on their faces; the town finally wakes up and smells the coffee; the protagonists eventually turn on the juice; etc.Although Kevin Bacon did an admirable job with his own dancing, I must say that the dancing double used in the more challenging scenes really smoked Bacon. Incidentally, I was going to review another mid-80s film - The Breakfast Club - but I've decided to put that pan on the back burner and cook with this one.You know, it's puzzling that this movie would leave me unsated and hungry for something else.

'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 is wonderful film about the Americans doing the dancing in their towns and they are having the fights as well. I am love this film because it is showing the kind heart of the Americans and as well their fighting. I love the last seen in particular because the American becon is doing the good dancing and moving the hips to the music but then when the violent men come he has no fear to fight and vanquish them. I wish him all the good luck to you mr becon. I love the lady in the pink dress when she is dancing it is very beautiful and reminding me of the dancing in my home town of Lokapel. I wish to see this film lots of times more.Edward