Kinky Boots.

What a relief.

I have big feet. I often say I have drag queen feet, which is probably a bit dramatic. I have size 11 feet, and I know how difficult it is to find a great pair of heels. (And yeah, before anyone comments, I know my foot size is all in proportion. It’s not like I’m 5’5” – I am 6 feet tall.)
Kinky Boots (2005) is the story of Charlie Price, who a man who wears grubby tennis shoes when his father says you can tell a lot about a man by what kind of shoes he wears. Charlie is finally about to start his life in London with his (predictably) uptight girlfriend. Just as he arrives in London, he gets news that his father has died back in his Midlands hometown. He returns to the Price Shoe Factory, a sinking behemoth of a wing-tip shoe factory which has been in his family for four generations. A Price shoe is built to last a lifetime, but the factory loses money when, in the 21st century, the shopping public is more interested in buying cheaper, lower quality shoes with a built-in obsolescence.

Charlie is suddenly saddled with the unenviable task of “making people redundant” (the British euphemism for firing people – North America’s version of “victim of cutbacks,” or “laid off.”). When he goes to the warehouse and discovers a huge order of shoes that were not bought, as promised, by a vendor, the next step is to shut the factory. He is upset by being the end of the line – the last portrait on the wall.

In a last-ditch effort to unload his huge inventory, he goes to London. There, he happens to meet Lola, a drag queen with sore feet and a snapped stiletto. In a flash of creativity, he decides to change the product of the Price Shoe Factory to cater exclusively to men dressed as women. With Lola’s help, he designs fabulous shoes that are larger and reinforced with steel to support a man’s weight. Fabulous by drag queen standards, maybe – garish by other’s.

Lola is an amazing character. She is not just a caricature of a drag queen, but a gay man who feels his best dressed as a woman. (To clarify: he is not a transvestite. He looks way too good to not be drag royalty.) She is portrayed with sensitivity and humour by Chiwetel Ejiofor, and if he isn’t already on your radar, should be an actor to pay attention to in the future. His portrayal of Lola’s kindness, wit, and mannerisms was fantastic. Music follows Lola, and that might be one of the most wonderful things one could say about another person.

Charlie was played by Joel Edgerton, an actor I had not previously known, although apparently he was in two Star Wars movies. Naughty geek, me, for not recognizing him. Of course, for me, his likeness to Conan O’Brien in Kinky Boots was distracting, but beside that, he was also good.

Charlie and Lola’s relationship was interesting, since Charlie couldn’t decide if he was comfortable around Lola, what level of respect she deserved, or how to treat her in public. On that level, Kinky Boots was a great little vignette of gender issues, and how one’s gender defines where one belongs and how one is treated.

I liked this movie. It was sweet, sometimes to the point of being treacly, but bearable. And, mercifully, neither drag queen movie staple songs “It’s Raining Men,” nor “I Will Survive” made an appearance, but they did use Space’s “Female of the Species,” and Kirsty MacColl’s “In These Shoes?”, two excellent picks.