Kinky Boots (2006)

The latest product off the Full Monty assembly line has a title that might suggest something a little edgier. But the most edge you'll find in Kinky Boots is in lead actor Joel Edgerton's last name. Kinky Boots is disappointingly standard issue, especially considering that it features a transvestite as one of its main characters. Actually, the bits involving Chiwetel Ejiofor's Lola bring the movie to life, perhaps because he's such a good actor and always a joy to watch. He succumbs to some of the stereotypes of how cross-dressing lounge singers have frequently been portrayed, but gives the character a subtle extra dimension that works well. But Geoff Deane and Tim Firth write the other characters' reactions to him at both extremes of the unbelievable, either too accepting or too damning, depending on the needs of the plot at that particular juncture. And once you get past Ejiofor, there's little inspiring in the rest of the cast. Edgerton is too much of a blank slate to make a charismatic hero worth cheering, and the appealing Sarah Jane Potts doesn't do much to liven him up. Perhaps the most difficult thing to accept is the setup itself. Saving an old-world shoe factory by refashioning it as a mass producer of footwear for transvestites? Not only is it barely credible -- how many customers could they possibly have? -- but by being so specific, it lacks the universality viewers rely on. It's so high concept that it draws attention to its own laboriousness, becoming the prototypical Full Monty descendant to use that film's successful format: character A launches wacky idea B to try to escape financial ruin. One wonders how much longer British filmmakers will be able to tread in those particular boots. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide