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# ‘Kinky Boots’start to fray
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/kinky-bootsstart-to-fray-2/
- Published: 2006-04-14T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T17:35:26.000Z
- Author: Dan Dunn
- Tags: Entertainment, Santa Monica, #archive-import

Proving yet again that he is one of the most versatile actors working in film today, Chiwetel Ejiofor (“Inside Man,” “Dirty Pretty Things”) is ab-so-fab as a lounge-singing drag queen named Lola that helps save the day at a floundering British shoe factory in this kitschy feature film debut from veteran TV director Julian Jarrold. “Kinky Boots” was a hit at Sundance in January and had audience members stomping their feet at last weekend’s Sonoma Valley Film Festival.

Filmmakers ply precisely the sort of breezy, non-threatening humor and colorful characters we’ve come to expect from popular British comedies such as “The Full Monty” (scribe Tim Firth also penned “Calendar Girls”). Film never realizes its full potential, however, as Jarrold hardly even winks at provocative issues that beg to be examined more closely (Lola’s sexuality, for instance), no doubt the result of a misguided fear of offending straight audiences. In the end, things just never get kinky enough, though Ejiofor deserves major props for flaunting all the bad-self he/she’s got.

Inspired by stuff that really happened — and isn’t virtually every film these days? — “Kinky Boots” begins just as 20-something Charlie Price’s (a pasty Joel Edgerton) plans to begin a new life in London are derailed by the death of his beloved father, leaving Charlie little choice but to return to the moldering industrial town of Northampton to tend to the family shoe business. Price & Sons is a venerable purveyor of sensible, quality footwear that can no longer survive in a world of cheap knock-offs and haute couture heels. The employees are treated like family, making Charlie’s decision to shut down the operation all the more agonizing. Ah, but a chance (er, contrived) encounter with Lola gives Charlie an idea for saving the business: Price & Sons will manufacture thigh-high leather stilettos strong enough to support men who dress like women. Fashion Week, here we come! Lola is brought in as a consultant at the fusty factory, and predictable fish-out-water gags ensue. “Kinky Boots” shows signs of fatigue as it sashays on overly familiar turf, possessing just enough piz-zazz to hold our attention. But the day is fast approaching when well worn becomes completely worn-out. (RATED PG-13\. RUNNING TIME 106 MINUTES)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/041406-15_01.jpg)

(Photo: Special to the Daily Press)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/041406-15_02.jpg)

(Photo: Special to the Daily Press)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 14, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/041406.pdf?ref=smdp.com)