At the beginning of "Kinky Boots," a friendly Brit comedy-drama, we are introduced to bits form two distinctly different childhoods. In the first, a cute androgynous little kid is at a pier on a cold day. After trying on and dancing in a borrowed pair of lady's boots, the child is quickly changed into suitable footwear by an angry father and rushed home. "Stupid Boy."
The latter is a solemn-eyed boy whose father owns a popular shoe factory. He is told that the business will be passed down to him when the time comes, and he should continue the family job. We are fast-forwarded to the second kid, the now-grown Charlie (Joel Edgerton,) around the time that his aging father unexpectedly dies. He is in grief, and although not keen on devoting his life's work to shoes, it's not as much his displeasure as it is his controlling girlfriend Nicola's, who has dreams of leaving the factory town for good and leading him on her whims.
Unfortunately, he finds a store of papers hidden in a desk drawer which proclaim that the factory's bankruptcy is imminent. Although Nicola wouldn't half mind a chance to get away from the Price shoe factory, Charlie feels compelled to attempt to borrow money from the nearest similar business in order to hopefully keep his many worker's jobs. He gives fellow shoe-seller Harry (Leo Bill) a visit, and is told politely to solve his own problems. So, he begins canning employees.
On the edge of desperation, he is told by the practical Lauren that coming up with a plan to change the products to something more unorthodox for catching consumer's attention would be a more sound plan than sitting and moping. This makes Charlie remember a strange event that took place in Harry's neighborhood, when he tried to defend a cross-dresser from thugs.
He hurries over back to the town, not to heckle Harry, but rather to pop an idea to Lola (Chiwetel Ejiofor,) a playfully flamboyant crossdresser who does shows at a night club. Remembering s/he made a comment about the difficulty of getting women's shoes on a male foot, he suggests the ultimate change in the Price factory- begin designing boots for "women... who are men."
Lola finds this intriguing, but decides to get a few things straight. First- he gets his own share of their creations. Second, he explains the difference between 'transvestites' and 'cross-dressers.' "A drag queen puts on a frock, looks like Kylie. A transvestite puts on a frock, looks like... Boris Yeltsin in lipstick." Charlie goes along with this, and the two team up with a plan to save the Price's business.
As Charlie stress increases, Lola finds herself fighting against his partner's own prejudices (he sneaks Lola through a back door so that his conservative co-workers won't catch on) and those of some of the factory workers, including dim-witted homophobe Don (a typecast Nick Frost,) and the community struggles toward saving the business and acceptance.
"Kinky Boots" is the kind of film described as a 'crowd-pleaser.' It is liked by most of the general public, whereas many professionals consider it mediocre. The reason for disliking it is not because it is badly acted and incompetent, as much as it is formula- the director gets a good cast, keeps a consistently amusing pace, but tries not to take risks.
It even has a strong-willed female friend of the hero, and if you know anything about this kind of thing you know where the relationship is going. If you like movies that are not particularly original, are sweet without dripping and entertaining, you'll probably like this. If you don't take it to seriously and watch without expecting a cinematic tour de force, you'll probably like it. Ejiofor adds spark to the screen, which, considering the story and Edgerton's melancholy Charlie, makes sense.
If you are, though, one of those people who detests formulaic sweetness in their films, you can skip this one over to go watch Neil Jordan's grim psychodrama "The Butcher Boy" and avoid wasting 1 hour 40 mins of your life. Maybe you'll enjoy that more (if 'enjoy' is the right word.) If you see this, expect few surpises, some chuckles, and a couple of entertaining drag (musn't say 'transvestite') song-and-dance sequences (rated PG-13.)
The latter is a solemn-eyed boy whose father owns a popular shoe factory. He is told that the business will be passed down to him when the time comes, and he should continue the family job. We are fast-forwarded to the second kid, the now-grown Charlie (Joel Edgerton,) around the time that his aging father unexpectedly dies. He is in grief, and although not keen on devoting his life's work to shoes, it's not as much his displeasure as it is his controlling girlfriend Nicola's, who has dreams of leaving the factory town for good and leading him on her whims.
Unfortunately, he finds a store of papers hidden in a desk drawer which proclaim that the factory's bankruptcy is imminent. Although Nicola wouldn't half mind a chance to get away from the Price shoe factory, Charlie feels compelled to attempt to borrow money from the nearest similar business in order to hopefully keep his many worker's jobs. He gives fellow shoe-seller Harry (Leo Bill) a visit, and is told politely to solve his own problems. So, he begins canning employees.
On the edge of desperation, he is told by the practical Lauren that coming up with a plan to change the products to something more unorthodox for catching consumer's attention would be a more sound plan than sitting and moping. This makes Charlie remember a strange event that took place in Harry's neighborhood, when he tried to defend a cross-dresser from thugs.
He hurries over back to the town, not to heckle Harry, but rather to pop an idea to Lola (Chiwetel Ejiofor,) a playfully flamboyant crossdresser who does shows at a night club. Remembering s/he made a comment about the difficulty of getting women's shoes on a male foot, he suggests the ultimate change in the Price factory- begin designing boots for "women... who are men."
Lola finds this intriguing, but decides to get a few things straight. First- he gets his own share of their creations. Second, he explains the difference between 'transvestites' and 'cross-dressers.' "A drag queen puts on a frock, looks like Kylie. A transvestite puts on a frock, looks like... Boris Yeltsin in lipstick." Charlie goes along with this, and the two team up with a plan to save the Price's business.
As Charlie stress increases, Lola finds herself fighting against his partner's own prejudices (he sneaks Lola through a back door so that his conservative co-workers won't catch on) and those of some of the factory workers, including dim-witted homophobe Don (a typecast Nick Frost,) and the community struggles toward saving the business and acceptance.
"Kinky Boots" is the kind of film described as a 'crowd-pleaser.' It is liked by most of the general public, whereas many professionals consider it mediocre. The reason for disliking it is not because it is badly acted and incompetent, as much as it is formula- the director gets a good cast, keeps a consistently amusing pace, but tries not to take risks.
It even has a strong-willed female friend of the hero, and if you know anything about this kind of thing you know where the relationship is going. If you like movies that are not particularly original, are sweet without dripping and entertaining, you'll probably like this. If you don't take it to seriously and watch without expecting a cinematic tour de force, you'll probably like it. Ejiofor adds spark to the screen, which, considering the story and Edgerton's melancholy Charlie, makes sense.
If you are, though, one of those people who detests formulaic sweetness in their films, you can skip this one over to go watch Neil Jordan's grim psychodrama "The Butcher Boy" and avoid wasting 1 hour 40 mins of your life. Maybe you'll enjoy that more (if 'enjoy' is the right word.) If you see this, expect few surpises, some chuckles, and a couple of entertaining drag (musn't say 'transvestite') song-and-dance sequences (rated PG-13.)
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