The last musical that was decently made into a movie was 1988’s Little Shop of Horrors. In the early 1980’s, movie studios weren’t bent on creating musicals in the traditional sense: they preferred to take a movie that was a teen romantic comedy and put pop songs over various parts in the movie to create a “pop musical.” Other movies in this tradition are Flashdance and Girls Just Want To Have Fun.

This movie’s plot was apparently based on a true story, but I can’t see how. A depressed teen lives in a hick town where the preacher has proclaimed that nobody can dance. Kevin Bacon, that feisty youth, decides to be a rebel and <GASP!> dance. John Lithgow, the preacher, gets pissed but Kevin Bacon decides to make it with his daughter anyway. John Lithgow finally accepts that dancing is OK, after listening to several Kenny Loggins songs.

The songs in this movie range to excellent (Holding Out For A Hero) to lame (Dancing in the Sheets). Their placement in the movie is questionable at best. For instance, one song is “Let’s Here It For The Boy.” Logically, one should put this song in a scene where the hero either wins the girl or wins a dance contest. This being Kevin Bacon’s wacky world of Footloose, the song plays when Kevin Bacon teaches his guy friend to dance. There is nothing wrong with homosexuality, but besides this scene there are no homosexual undertones in the movie. It comes out of nowhere. Another example is the great song “Holding Out For A Hero.” It sounds like a song of Kevin Bacon’s chick’s fears, right? If you would have said, “Hey, that makes perfect music for playing chicken with tractors!”, you’d be right!

The songs are fun, the characters are absurd, and the actors are pitiful. How much depth can you give a line like, “I want to dance!” Footloose is definitely the most entertaining pop musical I have seen so far.

I give Footloose ***1/2 out of ****.