IMDb user comments for
Kinky Boots (2005)

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20 out of 28 people found the following comment useful :-
Hilarious collision of small-town England with Soho uber-cool, 9 October 2005

Author: Josephine-Higgins from United Kingdom

I found this film so funny that my mascara ran down my face. In fact I haven't laughed so much since watching 'Some like it Hot.' This film is about what happens when life gets in the way of our best laid plans. In other words it could happen to you. It's a story about facing up to responsibility and not running away, not taking the easy option and hell even if you are in a crap job and have a crap life, a crap relationship even, sometimes it's about getting on with it. Yes folks, it's what we Brits excel at and why not celebrate it? I went with a bunch of people ranging in age from 12 to 80 years old and they all loved it. This is a genuinely authentic film about life as it is lived. Go see...

12 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
Kinky all the way home, 18 October 2005

Author: waynemw from Chester, England

To be honest i wasn't looking forward to this film but i was dragged along by a friends and i was amazingly surprised i loved it and cant wait till its released on DVD.

Through out the film it played with your emotions and was unpradictable, you wondered would Lola save the day or not, you will have to go see to find out.

Id recommend this film to anyone who just wants to have a good night out with mates and have a cry and a laugh at the same time. This film would attract a wide audience and i believe that you will leave with a very good feeling.

10 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
"Sex shouldn't be comfy!", 7 October 2005

Author: godofsmallthings from United Kingdom

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Kinky Boots is, as has been pointed out in previous comments, a film in the same vein as Calendar Girls and The Full Monty: a feel-good, triumph-against-the-odds Britflick. And there's nothing wrong with that.

The plot is simple: Charlie (Joel Edgerton) takes over the family's shoe factory after his father dies. Faced with closure, he makes staff redundant and seems on a losing wicket until a trip to London and a meeting with a transvestite/drag queen called Lola changes everything...

You can see what's going to happen a mile off. But such is the wonderful atmosphere engendered throughout, that doesn't matter.

Quite frankly, this is Chiwetel Ejiofor's film. Brassy, loud and funny as Lola, yet moving and sensitive as Simon, his performance is never less than utterly convincing. You get behind the glitter to see the scarred and unhappy man behind the persona, and you feel for him. Plus he gets extra points for the cabaret scenes and for walking in those stilettos!

The rest of the cast are uniformly good. Joel Edgerton conveys Charlie's frustration at being in a job he doesn't want to do in a place he doesn't want to be very well. Nick Frost is good as the homophobic co-worker and Linda Bassett gives a small part as one of the factory girls a strong performance. One problem is that because Lola's so well-drawn the rest of the characters seem done in broad strokes with very little depth e.g. Charlie's girlfriend (Jemima Rooper, good in a thankless role) is given the stereotypical route of dissatisfaction then affair.

The script shines with the same humour and goodness that made Calendar Girls such a good film (indeed, they share a writer in Tim Firth). Peppered with excellent one-liners and thoughtful speeches, it's a joy and if it strays into clich� occasionally, that can be forgiven.

All in all, a decent film. Go with the frame of mind to enjoy yourself and you won't go far wrong.

16 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :-
Excellent comedy, with touching emotions to boot!, 14 October 2005

Author: simon_james2205 from United Kingdom

Excellent film. Full of humour, but also touching emotions and observations. I expected the characters to be two-dimensional but they were developed and you could really identify with them, even Lola. Chiwetel Ejiofor deserves an award for his performance. His portrayal of Lola had the audience in fits of laughter then dabbing their eyes with emotion. Charlie was admittedly a bit of an English stereotype but well played, and his reserved character was an excellent balance to Lola.

The major shame about this film is that America is unlikely to 'get it' with its English humour, which means that it will probably not get the recognition it deserves.

9 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
V good.!!!, 26 October 2005

Author: richard stannard from Luton, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom

A revelation. I checked in to the cinema on my way to work to wind down from the madness there and boy did i have fun! Yes the story is straight-forward and predictable, and while i won't say i am a connoisseur of drag queens, i think Chewy's performance was excellent and i can just hear the song "what Lola wants, Lola gets" on my head as i write this! The twist at the end you could see coming from a mile off but hey, thats entertainment! I might even check the film out with the gang this Friday night again! I say this, if you want to have a good time at the cinema and forget all your worries for 90 minutes then go see Kinky Boots!

12 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
Another British triumph, 29 October 2005

Author: princessandrea1961 from United Kingdom

I loved this film, and just knew that there was going to be a feel-good ending. However, I didn't realise that I was going to be blown away by it!! I wanted to stand up and applaud. This film has all the hallmark of any good film for me, by making me laugh out loud and cry quietly. I loved the characters and the story managed to involve me right from the start. And I should give a special mention to the wonderful actor who played the drag queen. He gave the performance of a life-time. And I should also mention that I watched this film with my 17 year old son, a typical teenager, and he really enjoyed it as well. A real British triumph.

8 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Warm Heart, Rough Edges, 27 October 2005

Author: emo_mz from United Kingdom

With the usual rough-edged filming of Brit flicks, this film was good, but not the best of it's genre that i've seen. I think that they could have given us a bit more on the personal journeys of each of the major characters as that's what's at the heart of this film. Much like it's predecessor Calendar Girls, we see Brits challenged to break out of their stereotypes/embracing those who don't quite fit in.

As a story it's great fun. It's got a beginning middle and a end, along with conflict and resolution. There's song and dance a plenty, thanks to the drag queens too. It's also naturally very funny in places. The laughs are not forced which is a refreshing change from the forced laughs of Hollywood.

I would certainly recommend it, but only for a single viewing.

2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Like a comfortable blanket, 9 April 2006

Author: Greg ([email protected]) from Oakville, Ontario

A lot can be learned from British comedies. For every gross out American made rip off of Animal House or American Pie, the Brits have countered with endearing stories like Waking Ned Devine and Calendar Girls. The once Island Empire seems to have a knack for making comedies that can both invoke fits of laughter while still finding ways of keeping us intimately interested in the characters and their individual challenges.

From Shirley Valentine through The Full Monty and Billy Elliot, Britain has consistently brought to life stories of ordinary people who have overcome obstacles that leave the audience either tapping their shoes or clapping in unison at the conclusion of the performance.

Standing next in line in this tradition is Kinky Boots a new film starring a bunch of people you have never heard about doing something you never knew occurred. This time round, we get the story of an Englishman's footwear company that due to recent contract failures and the death of its long time owner, is looking for a niche to help keep the factory afloat.

But things don't come easy. They never do in jolly ole England. And at the centre of the attention is one Mr. Charlie Price (Joel Edgerton) who is the son of recently passed Harold Price, the owner of Price & Sons shoe company. The factory established in Northampton England is a fixture in the community and has made men's shoes for as long as Charlie can remember. But when Charlie is thrust into running the company he quickly discovers the fragility of the business and must make 15 employees redundant.

Hating the task of telling long Price & Son supporters that they no longer have a job weighs heavily on Charlie and takes him across the country trying to unload his stocked product. This journey into unfamiliar territory leads Charlie to a chance encounter with Leon (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a drag queen that makes Priscilla Queen of the Desert look like Mrs. Doubtfire.

Charlie feels uncomfortable in Leon's presence but soon recognizes that cross-dressing community does not have a manufacturer of high heeled shoes and boots that can maintain the average body weight of the male performer. With a wing, a mortgaged house and a prayer, Charlie takes a shot at a last ditch effort to create kinky boots for the unseen masses that hang out in droves at local pubs while performing ABBA like songs of pleasure.

Kinky Boots is very formulaic. There is the non-understanding fianc� of Charlie that wants him to sell the factory and move away from Northampton. There is the big brute of a factory worker that hates having Leon around and will undoubtedly have some revelation by films end that will change his entire outlook on people. And then there is the love story of two unsuspecting co-workers that were thrust to work together and end up in each others' arms.

All of these scenarios have been done before, and even to death, but hats off to director Julian Jerrold (yet another name you will never have heard before) for at least keeping the pace flowing, the characters interesting and the story moving even if the end result is like the ratty blanket we keep in the closet that we just can't throw away.

Kinky Boots is not for everyone. Anyone that has found themselves around the work water-cooler when a discussion about Brokeback Mountain breaks out knows that anything outside of heterosexuality still has some people cringing and heading back to the cubicle.

But for those of you that are just looking for a fluff film that will give you a good time but be erased from your memory until you see the box again on the DVD store shelves, Kinky Boots is exactly the ticket.

www.robertsreviews.com

2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Terrific and rare, feel good, charming movie., 4 April 2006

Author: hollyher from United States

The movie is touching, funny, entertaining and overall a gem. The characters are well developed and delightful. The ensemble of secondary characters are very strong and interesting. Both of the leads demonstrate great versatility. Clearly they are both future mega stars based on their talent displayed in this movie. Terrific combination and balancing of serious issues and lighter fare. The only thing I would improve would be the audio/accent. At times, I lost some of the dialogue lines because of the thick accent. Highly recommend it! It's wonderful to experience a well written and acted story without explosion, violence and special effects.

1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
The Path of Least Resistance, 15 April 2006

Author: madbeast from Los Angeles, CA

This sluggish and maudlin snooze-fest betrays the enticing premise of a young man trying to save his family shoe factory by turning away from the traditional footwear they were once famous for by making fetish wear for transvestites and goes instead for bland predictability.

Instead of the potential danger of two sexually opposite worlds colliding with unexpected results, the interminable bore takes its predictable journey as a formulaic comedy/drama where you can safely forecast how each scene will play out before it starts and where its one-dimensional characters learn nothing about life or change as the result of being exposed to each other.

The film is not helped by the painfully bland performance of Chiwetel Ejiofor as the drag queen who comes to the rescue of the shoe factory as the designer of the "kinky boots," a part that cries out for a charismatic diva such as John Cameron Mitchell in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch." Ejiofor lacks the presence or sexuality that the part demands so that instead of being the white-hot angel of sex that his character claims to be, he comes off as merely a lumbering man in a dress.

Joel Edgerton is equally inept in his role as the young man who risks everything by taking the gamble of turning out the erotic footwear. His character habitually claims to be out of his element in his inherited role as boss of his father's shoe factory (presumably to make him appear as much of an outsider in the staid and conservative world that kismet has forced him to stay in as Ejiofor's sexually dangerous newcomer), but his performance is so timid and annoying that he comes off as a dreary stuffed shirt who is exactly where he belongs.

If the filmmakers had any real interest in drag queens or insight into the threat of a conservative society by the introduction of a sexually unconventional outsider, this might have been a smart and even compelling film. But without any point of view about its characters or the conflicting worlds that it is pretending to portray, it ends up as a lamentable and shallow irritant that is best avoided in favor of more gratifying diversions.

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