Dennis Quaid Brings Complexity to the 2011 Remake of Footloose

I am a child of the 80s, and I like to think that I’m pretty up on the pop culture of that decade, particularly when it comes to movies. However, perhaps in part because of my two left feet, I never latched onto either Dirty Dancing or Footloose. I heard some of the music, of course, and I saw clips on television specials, but that’s always been one little chunk of quintessential 80s that I’ve been missing. While I still need to remedy that one of these days, I did see the remake of Footloose recently. Maybe my reaction to it would have been different if I’d grown up with the original, but I quite enjoyed it.

The movie revolves around Ren McCormack (Kenny Wormald), a free-thinking Bostonian who has just moved to a tiny Southern town in the wake of his mother’s death. He finds welcome with his supportive uncle Wes (Ray McKinnon), warm-hearted aunt Lulu (Kim Dickens) and adoring little cousins Amy (Maggie Elizabeth Jones) and Sarah (Mary-Charles Jones). The rest of the town is a bit slower to accept him, however. He’s the new kid on the block, so it’s easy to accuse him of stirring up trouble, though aside from a little fast driving and loud music, he’s a pretty upstanding young man.

Still, he feels stifled by all the rules in a community that has turned to legalism for comfort in the wake of a terrible tragedy. After the deaths of several teens, including the son of local pastor Shaw Moore (Dennis Quaid), in a car accident on the way home from a dance, the town council enacted a ban on public dancing, and Ren becomes determined to overturn it. His attraction to the reverend’s daughter Ariel (Julianne Hough), who is the greater rabble-rouser by far, does nothing to endear him to this clergyman who still hasn’t fully processed the loss that his family suffered.

From the moment that Ren turns up in town and gets rushed by his exuberant cousins, he pretty much won me over. He’s got a bit of a rebellious streak, but he’s a really likable guy. Ariel takes a little longer to warm to, since she seems to have chosen a very self-destructive path and spends the early part of the movie pushing away everyone who really cares about her. Ultimately, however, she becomes easy to sympathize with as well.

On the other hand, while Rev. Moore is set up as the primary antagonist, this certainly is not a cookie-cutter situation in which the restrictive establishment is Evil. Indeed, he is a complex man whose deep faith and love for his family and parishioners informs everything he does, making his actions understandable even when they are frustrating. Quaid’s nuanced performance actually makes Shaw my favorite character in the movie save Willard (Miles Teller), the somewhat dopey local teen who quickly becomes Ren’s best friend. A regular source of comic relief throughout the movie, he particularly tickled my funny bone in the scene in which the two meet.

I’m sure that it was a bit superfluous to remake this movie less than three decades after it first hit theaters, but writer-director Craig Brewer brought a deep affection for the original to the project, and I would imagine that many contemporary teens who saw the remake might want to check out the 1983 version as well. Not having seen it, I can’t draw comparisons, but as a stand-alone movie, the new edition of Footloose entertains and invites thoughtful discussion about the balance between safety and freedom.

Good Twins Prevail Over Impracticalities in The Parent Trap

Yesterday, I finished reading the LOST tie-in novel Bad Twin, so I have had twins on the brain, which led me naturally to The Parent Trap, the Nancy Meyers-directed Disney remake I saw for the first time a few weeks back. I was familiar with the basic story, though as far as I can recall I'd never seen the Hayley Mills version either. Two girls meet at summer camp and discover that they are identical twins who have been separated at birth. Having found that long-lost connection, they endeavor to reunite their parents.

In the 1998 version, the twins are played by a pre-scandal Lindsay Lohan in her first movie role(s). Hallie Parker is a spunky American who lives with her vineyard-owning father Nick (Dennis Quaid). Annie James is a posh young sophisticate who lives in England with her mother Elizabeth (Natasha Richardson), a famous designer. The girls meet and, after a couple of unfortunate run-ins, declare themselves rivals, each launching a war on the other that lands them in solitary confinement - with each other. It's at this point that they really take note of their physical similarities as well as their complementary backgrounds. Before camp is over, they've figured things out and hatched a plan that, if nothing else, will allow each to spend time with her long-dreamed-of other parent.

The rivalry portion of the movie is silly and slapsticky, and the length of the girls' imprisonment is a little ridiculous, as is the entire premise of each parent being willing to act as though the other daughter doesn't exist for ten years and of these girls living on different continents happening to go to the same summer camp. I've heard of cases of identical twins reuniting after many years, but these particular circumstances seem very suspect. There are other absurd plot points as well, including a nasty trick that the girls play on Nick's frosty, gold-digging fiancee Meredith (Elaine Hendrix) that is downright dangerous. But some suspension of disbelief has generally been a given in Disney movies, and I'm willing to overlook certain oddities if the movie is enjoyable enough. For me, this one is.

The mid-section of the movie, in which the bulk of the action takes place, involves Hallie and Annie adjusting each other's way of life. Initially, there's the joy of reunion with the parent, though both girls must hold their euphoria in check somewhat to avoid arousing suspicion. Their new surroundings, and the cast of characters that come with them, soon come to feel almost homelike. Annie quickly bonds with Chessy (Lisa Ann Walter), a faithful housekeeper rather like Alice on The Brady Bunch; Hallie gets to know Martin (Simon Kunz), the emotionally open butler with whom Annie shares a secret handshake. Hallie also meets her doting grandfather for the first time, while Annie must deal with the unwelcome development of Meredith, who came into the picture after camp started. In both cases, the actual parents have no inkling that they are being duped by their daughters, but others catch on more quickly; Hallie's dog, for instance, isn't fooled for a minute.

It's fun to watch these girls try to pretend to be each other, a task made more difficult by the fact that they must always remember to put on a phony accent. While they manage that remarkably well, it's a bit more difficult to avoid slipping unlikely terms into conversation. Watching their struggles is entertaining, while watching them fall in love with their families is heartwarming. Richardson is especially radiant in this, the first of her movies that I saw after her death, while Quaid brings his usual likability to his role. There's never any question that the two will wind up together by film's end, despite the logistical problems with this scenario. Though the two have very little actual screen time together, they manage to sell me on the relationship, convincing me it could work out even though it didn't the first time.

The Parent Trap is a fun, frothy film about a family reconnecting despite numerous obstacles. It's squeaky clean Disney fun and a chance to see Richardson in full bloom and Lohan at her adorable, pre-adolescent best, interacting with herself so convincingly that I half-wondered if there was a twin Lohan we weren't aware of. With appealing secondary characters along with a hiss-worthy villainess, this might not be a necessary adaptation, but it certainly is an enjoyable one.

Paternal Quaid Shines With Considerable Grace

Some time ago, my friend and I rented Win a Date With Tad Hamilton, and she developed a slight crush on Topher Grace, who was undeniably adorable in that film and was always, to my mind, by far the most appealing cast member on The 70s Show. He comes across so differently than tabloid darling Ashton Kutcher. He just seems like a sweet, classy guy next door. A recent trip to Hollywood Video yielded another film starring the graceful young actor, and once again he showed that he is head and shoulders above his classless television co-star. In Good Company is an engaging coming of age story with a side order of commentary on the pitfalls of corporate America, and though he’s a bit less naive here, Grace is nonetheless a guy we want to root for.

Grace co-stars as Carter Duryea, a driven youth who finds himself in charge of an advertising agency. He doesn’t really know what he’s doing, and that comes across especially in his first meeting with his new underlings. But he’s likable enough, and he seems to want what is best for the company, so his employees grudgingly accept his presence. But reporting to him is especially difficult for Dan Foreman (Dennis Quaid), who has been at this firm for years and is passionate about what he does. It’s hard being demoted, especially by someone who really is not very engaged in the work he is doing. It becomes harder when long-time employees begin to get laid off as a cost-cutting measure that Carter protests but ultimately has little control over. Luckily for Dan, however, Carter likes him and doesn’t plan to turn him out of the company if he can help it. It makes for heightened job security, but Dan still has trouble adjusting to the new order of things.

At home, his life is in turmoil too. He’s just learned that his wife Ann (Marg Helgenberger) is pregnant, which produces very mixed feelings. He’s pleased and excited, but he’s also worried. This was very unexpected, and with a potentially shaky job situation, he’s not sure the family is financially ready for this new arrival, especially with his oldest daughter Alex (Scarlett Johansson) heading to the monstrously expensive NYU for classes. Alex also becomes important in Carter’s life as the movie progresses – this was advertised as a romantic comedy though the humor is understated and the romance is actually a pretty small part of the film – but this father-daughter relationship is perhaps the most important in the movie. It signals to Carter the difference between what he has and what he actually wants. Money is a very cold companion when it’s all you have, and this is something that the young executive must find out for himself.

There are solid performances all around, especially by the two leading men. Dan is paternal and passionate; Carter is driven but unfulfilled. They learn from one another. Alex is a sweet-natured character, though her lack of contact with her father after she moves out for college is frustrating. Helgenberger and Quaid have natural chemistry, making the family environment Carter sees all the more appealing. Zena Grey is underused as Dan’s younger daughter; her presence in the film is so minimal that I don’t really know why that character had to exist at all. The most notable of the other smaller roles is David Paymer as Morty, a glum, hen-pecked long-time executive who is one of Dan’s closest friends at work. He provides several small comedic touches.

The movie isn’t too kind to corporate America. It shows how huge companies swallowing up smaller companies ruins lives. It also demonstrates that there are more important things than career advancement. Doing something you feel passionate about is important. Surrounding yourself with people you care about is even more important. By the end of the movie, Carter has seen it all, and to some it might seem that he is far worse off than before. But what he has lost in prestige and fancy cars, he has gained in wisdom, which is a far more valuable commodity.