Footloose

Craig Brewer, the extraordinary young director of Hustle & Flow and Black Snake Moan, brings his sharp ear for southern culture's tone and rhythms to this remake of a 1998 pop musical (itself a remake of a 1984 film) set in a small Georgia town. The problem is that the material is still Footloose.

Kenny Wormald plays the Boston kid who goes to live with his uncle and aunt and challenges the town ordinance against dancing. In this version, the prohibition was instituted after five teenagers were killed in a car crash following a dance. That story suggests the rule was an authentic response to the grief of the community. What doesn't make sense is the town elders' claim that dancing is lewd and lascivious. It's as if they are in a rock-'n'-roll musical from the Elvis Presley era.