Kinky Boots

I love Friday nights because they’re all mine. When the knuckleheads were younger, I used to pack up my panties and PJs on Friday morning and head up to Connecticut right after work; a telling barometer of my love and devotion to those two that I would willingly put myself through Friday night traffic on 684, but now that they’re teenagers and have social lives of their own and are too busy for their old aunt, I have re-appropriated the evening and made it all my own. The Friday ritual is pretty basic, it involves three key ingredients: pizza, couch, and movie in that exact order. I stop at my favorite pizza joint on the way home and pick up a couple slices, change into my coziest PJs and camp out on the couch with my favorite pillow and fuzzy blanket to watch a movie. Jasmin usually opts to start the evening atop her kitty condo and later employs her kitty sixth sense to determine if the movie proves a hit or miss. If it’s a hit, she stays atop the highest peak of her tower benevolently looking down on her subjects (namely me); if it’s a miss, she jumps down and slowly snuggles in for what ultimately proves to be a joint cozy cat nap. This past Friday my selection was spot on and we enjoyed one of the funniest and sweetest movies I’ve seen in a while.

Inspired by a true story, Kinky Boots tells the story of Charlie Price (Joel Edgerton), a British chap who inherits the family shoe factory upon his father’s death. Despite initial reservations, Charlie is determined to keep the family business afloat and continue to provide for the loyal Northampton townsfolk who have for generations made their livelihood working at Price & Sons. This endeavor proves quite a feat when he learns that the store lost the large order which was keeping the workers employed. Determined to find a solution for the stockpile of shoes sitting idle in his store room, he sets off to London to try and sell his stock, even at cost. With marginal success, he’s leaving a local pub when he comes to the rescue of Lola (Chiwetel Ojiofor), a drag queen nightclub singer, who ends up having to rescue him. During Lola’s pre-performance ritual she gripes of the poor quality women’s shoes not built to carry the weight of a real man. After dejectedly heading home to Northampton, Charlie faces no other option but to start laying off staff, but Lauren (Sarah-Jane Potts), a young staff member doesn’t take the dismissal lying down and sets into Charlie for his 'woe is me, what can I do' attitude and tells him to instead put his big boy pants on and change the product or find a new niche market to save the company. Those simple words become the catalyst that transforms the old stodgy Price & Sons to the Kinky Boots Company and begins the tale of how a drag queen helps to rescue not only a company, but a man and a town.

Kinky Boots is a British comedy in the same inspiring and uplifting tradition of The Full Monty and Billy Elliott. The story of hope and camaraderie between a desperate group of people coming together for a greater good is not new, but the wonderful acting, humor and heart keep it fresh and utterly compelling. Joel Edgerton does a wonderful job in his portrayal of Charlie. I’ve seen Edgerton in a couple other movies, Warrior and The Odd Life of Timothy Green, both of which were post-Kinky Boots and having seen this movie I totally see how it became the vehicle driving his American box office success. He’s good looking in a boy next door kind of way, not Brad Pitt/ Hollywood movie star kind of looks, and totally believable as a good guy, completely out of his element that’s determined to do the right thing. While I’d seen Edgerton before, Chiwetel Ojiofor was a complete unknown to me and that just blows my mind, because he was just that incredibly good. Chiwetel’s portrayal of Lola/Simon was brilliant. While he’s way too masculine to bring any femininity to Lola’s portrayal, he gave her so much heart and vulnerability that it totally made up for it. An added bonus was that Chiwetel did all the actual singing for Lola’s performances at the club and they were outstanding. I would buy tickets to see Lola sing. To demonstrate his incredible talent and artistic range, Chiwetel’s next role will be in 12 Years A Slave, based on the real life story of Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, abducted and sold into slavery.

Kinky Boots also does a great job in addressing the issue of prejudice and the cowardly bias and hurtful words and actions that Lola, and people like her have to deal with every day. Through Lola’s dad, the movie highlights how sometimes those we love are the ones that do the most damage to our hearts and psyches; altering our own view of ourselves based on their hurtful words; and how it’s not until you can be brave enough to be yourself and accept yourself as you are that you can truly find peace and happiness.

I don’t know what it is about the Brits but they seem to have the perfect formula for these types of movies. They crank them out with seemingly little effort and always to resounding success; most of them even end up on Broadway, like The Full Monty, Billy Elliott or Kinky Boots itself, which won a Tony this year for Best Musical. Whatever their magic, watch this movie because from the touching opening scene to the rousing closing number, Kinky Boots is pitch perfect.