Good looking Ren (Kevin Bacon) moves with his mom from the big city of Chicago to a podunk town in the Midwest where his aunt, uncle and cousins live. He immediately catches the eye of the rebellious preacher's daughter Ariel (Lori Singer) and makes an instant enemy of Ariel's boyfriend, who makes it his goal to make Ren miserable.
Soon, Ren discovers that there's a law in town banning dancing and rock music and pretty much anything fun because some 5 years before, a group of kids were killed in a car accident following an evening of drinking and dancing, one of whom was the preacher's son and Ariel's big brother. Ok, so maybe the townsfolk should have focused in on the alcohol the teens were drinking? But no, it must have been that dang music and dancin'.
So Ren decides to buck the system, with the help of Ariel, her friend Rusty (Sarah Jessica Parker), his friend Willard (the late Chris Penn), and a bunch of other kids who just want to dance and have fun. The kids decide to throw their own prom and have to go up against the city council and the imposing Reverend Moore (John Lithgow). Fortunately, the Reverend's wife, Vi (Dianne Wiest), is a bit more level-headed and throws her vote towards the kids. Reverend Moore works through his anger about losing his son and is able to finally reconnect with his rebellious daughter, all thanks to Ren, Kenny Loggins and Deniece Williams. Huh? Yeah, I said it was stupid.
One thing I can say for the movie is that is has a terrific soundtrack and that is indisputable. However, it also has a really dumb scene where Ren gets mad at what is happening to him and has an angry dance-off in a barn. This scene was supposed to get you roused up, but all it did was make me laugh as I recalled it being spoofed in Hot Rod. It was dumb there too.
Quite frankly, I just thought the premise was silly and I can only figure that the movie is a classic because of the fun soundtrack and its foolish premise. You are either a fan of this movie or you aren't. But it is fun to see young SJP, Kevin Bacon and Chris Penn when he was really thin.
