It’s best not to think of Footloose as a movie musical—despite its production numbers—because then you’d have to wrestle with the reality that this features some awful dancing. Kevin Bacon, as the new kid in town who challenges a ban on dancing, moves like a machete chopping through the jungle: every gesture is a violent lunge that comes to a sudden stop, so that there’s no fluidity to his motion. Herky-jerkiness defines most of the dancing here, though to be fair the cast is asked to move to the beat of Kenny Loggins’ title song, itself a stiffly bouncy stomper. To its credit, Footloose portrays the town pastor, who leads the ban against dancing, as less of a fire-breathing villain and more of a misguided father figure. Yet save for a quiet conversation between the pastor (John Lithgow) and his wife (Dianne Wiest), this storyline is handled as clumsily as the dance sequences. Credit to Chris Penn, though, as Bacon’s hayseed new friend. Of everyone, he has the best moves.
