Teenage Chicagoan Ren McCormack has to move to Bomont, a small, western town, with this mom. Not used to such a small, conservative, community environment, in some ways he struggles to fit in; in other ways, he makes inroads. But he is shocked to discover that there is a ban on dancing and rock music within town limits. The teens in town are sort of accepting of this—they don’t know what they’re missing—so Ren takes some of his closest new friends across state lines to a dance. Now they get it. So Ren decides to challenge the town’s political and moral leadership (including Reverend Shaw Moore, a central figure in the dancing-ban). He builds support for hosting a Senior Prom and must plead his case for dance while facing threats, doubts, and support from likely and unlikely places.
Any movie-going experience involves the biases and expectations you bring to a picture. And to be honest, I didn’t expect that I would like this one. My secret—I don’t like to dance. LOL. And I think this film knows that, because the Willard Hewitt friend character is the stand-in for those of us who were never taught. But despite not liking dance, or films about teenagers, I was shocked to discover that this film played as a high-minded allegory on censorship and human expression. Sure, the teenage drama was run of the mill, and the dance sequences had a broadway musical level of (perhaps unintentional) camp.
But there was an unexpected humanity to the flick. One, in the dialogue on the freedom to express one’s humanness. The powerful book burning scene forced Reverend Moore to confront where the line is on restricting thought. And two, in the film’s characterizations. From Ren chasing this dream, not just to fit in and be a rebel, but to assert himself as a man in the wake of his father’s leaving. Then Reverend Moore, who I expected to be painted as a monochromatic villain, had real depth and struggle regarding his choices throughout the film. Kevin Bacon and John Lithgow’s performances were terrific. I loved the “courtroom scene”, where Bacon makes a case for dancing, not because it was a profound monologue, but because it was delivered like a teenager—a bit rambley, a bit unconfident, but it meandered around until it stuck its mark.
Long story short, I was really impressed. The film was fun, funny, and had a real point of view. I understand if this isn’t your thing, but the film definitely deserves better than the 51% it has on Rotten Tomatoes.