Who's in It: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Joel Edgerton
The Basics: It's "inspired by a true story" about a traditional men's footwear factory in Northamptonshire. They stopped making regular shoes and started making boots for drag queens in order to keep the community's economy going. How nice for them. Did they have to go and make a movie about it?
What's the Deal? Ever seen Will & Grace? How about Absolutely Fabulous? Ever hear of Queer as Folk or The L Word or Brokeback Mountain? No? Well then, this movie will teach you all about human diversity. Because it acts as though it's the first movie to do that.
How Drag Queens Never Are. Ever. So the premise here is that a drag queen cabaret singer (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is the designer of the kinky boots. So far, so good. But then you see her onstage doing her thing. And she gets heckled by intolerant yobs. And she lobs back some feeble response. And then runs off the stage and cries. Have the filmmakers ever seen a real drag queen? Like in real life? Because these gals are tough. They obliterate people who dare step up to battle them.
Worst of All: The focus of all the supposed attention isn't even the person whose story it is. You get a message of tolerance (be nice to the gays, please) told via a regular heterosexual guy who has to learn lessons of his own. It's like if Philadelphia were all about Denzel Washington instead of Tom Hanks.
And Another Thing: I said just a week or so ago after reviewing On a Clear Day that I never wanted to see another heartwarming British "We're-going-broke-and-we're-depressed-and-working-class-but-sorta-wacky-too-and-we're-gonna-do-something-EXTRAORDINARY-now-for-our-self-esteem" movies. So of course another one pops up. I want the 28 Days Later zombies to come along and eat all these people.