When I heard that Footloose was being re-made, I was not happy. How can you re-make a classic such as this? You can’t. Or can you? You can if you get the right director, but more importantly, if you stick to the same format. But that’s just me.
I got a bit excited when I heard the director was Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow). I, surprisingly, enjoyed Hustle & Flow and watch it from time to time when its on TV (cable is much better than regular TV. I was looking at his other lists of movies and cringed, so perhaps I shouldn’t have gotten excited when I learned he was directing Footloose, but, as mentioned, I was basing my excitement on Hustle & Flow.
I have to admit that the previews didn’t excite me, but intrigued me. Then my partner stated stated she wanted to see the movie and I admitted that I kinda wanted to see it as well. So, yesterday (15 October 2001) we went to see it. Well her and her sister saw it. I, all the while, was cringing and nitpicking he movie. There were minor scenes that were changed, that I feel, should have been kept to its original format. Let me count the ways.
In the original – Arial gave Ren a Bible by the school lockers. After which, Ren says to Arial, “I have something to tell you. Come here.” And when she leans forward he kisses her.
In the remake – she gave him the Bible outside somewhere where the sun is brightly shinning between the two of them. In other words, the scene was so corny and sappy, I wanted to run out of the theater.
In the original – when Ren is busted for having a joint on him, he drives his car to this warehouse type place, turns up his radio and begins dancing.
In the remake – Ren does get caught with a joint and does drive to the warehouse. He gets out of the car and goes through a number of songs and finally settles on one. After which, He begins yelling things out in retaliation to previous conversations he’s had with different people. Not only does he look like a mental case, but that particular part was not necessary. There were other things that bothered me, but I’m going to leave them out.
In the original – When Ariel comes to tell Ren that Chuck wants to meet at a certain place, Ren was moving large bags of feeds and Ariel places her foot on a bag he just moved. He looks up at her and that’s when she tells him why she’s there.
In the remake – Ren works moving cotton (I think it is) and his boss tells him someone is there to see him and then there’s Arial. She tells Ren that Chuck wants to meet him at a certain place at a certain time. The one thing they did keep in the remake that was in the original, is Ariel telling Ren that she volunteered to deliver the message.
In the original – Ren and Chuck are to play chicken with tractors, with each driving a tractor towards each other and the first one to jump loses.
In the remake – Chuck wants to race buses. And its not just Chuck and Ren racing, but Chuck and three of his friends against Ren. This scene was just plain ridiculous and made no sense whatsoever to me. They should have kept it with them playing chicken. Oh, and Ren’s shoelace doesn’t get stuck on the gas pedal. Instead, the brakes on his bus goes out. LAME!
I know I really nit picked the movie, but as mentioned, I was cringing through the whole movie. But I was doing the same thing with Funny Games (2007), which was a remake of the 1997 version. There were things, minor things, that made a difference to me, that drove me crazy and had me disliking the movie a great deal. And crazy thing is, Michael Haneke, who directed the original, directed the 2007 version.
But my biggest gripe about the movie are the actors: Kenny Wormald and Julianne Hough. He made a terrible Ren and she sure as hell was not Arial. Kevin Bacon is Ren and did not…repeat DID NOT have a Boston accent. And no one can be Arial, but Lori Singer. However, I did enjoy Miles Teller as Willard. And no disrespect to Chris Penn, but Teller was a much better Willard and he can dance.
The Opinionated Telly 