I grew up in Seattle and Denver. When I wasn't much older than Kevin Bacon's character in Footloose, I moved to a small town of less than 5,000 people. I didn't last long.

For those of you who have never experienced it, let me tell you that culture shock is a very real thing and it's not easy for big city kids to figure out a small town. I'm sure it works the same way for the small town kids heading into the city.

Granted, the town in Footloose is an extreme extrapolation on the small farm town mindset, but then again, when you're a kid, you feel just about as oppressed as the kids in this film.

Ren MacCormack (Kevin Bacon) is the big city kid in this case and he faces seemingly unending troubles when his parents move him to a small, highly religious midwestern town. Ren is your typical, unrepressed teenager. He likes to listen to rock music, dance, and get into mostly harmless trouble. The problem is that the small town he finds himself in strictly forbids any and all forms of entertainment for its teenage residents.

Almost immediately, Ren starts butting heads with the adults in the town. His primary opponent is the unofficial town leader, Reverend Shaw Moore ( John Lithgow). It's not enough that Moore has to worry about the music, dance moves and books Ren has brought to his town, but his own daughter, Ariel Moore (Lori Singer) seems to have fallen under the new kid's spell.

Ren chooses to draw the battle lines over a school prom. His position is that the town's law against dancing should be abolished. He asserts that even the bible encourages dancing as an expression of joy. Reverend Moore isn't buying it, citing all of the potential problems when you allow young people to socialize at dances.

If one commits the most heinous of sins while watching a typical Hollywood film, namely, engages in actually thought about the film or plot, one would realize how extreme and unlikely the attitudes of the town residents are. Also, the film is filled with hokey dialogue and while the town's argument is about how harmful rock music can be, the musical selections featured in the film are about as harmless as you can get and barely even qualify as rock.

And still, there is something undeniably infectious about Footloose. Perhaps it's the charisma of the stars. Whatever it is, the film works in a very goofy sort of way. Footloose isn't a great film and it's barely even a good film, but it is fun to watch and sometimes that's enough.