Directed by Julian Jarrold
Written by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth
Starring, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Joel Edgerton
Age difference between romantic leads: 7 years initially, then 2 years. 2 sets of characters fitting within the 7 year limit? Huzzah! What a movie!
There's a sub-genre of movies that this movie falls into, that will tell you fairly quickly whether you'll like it or not.
-Group of people in bad situation (could be a failing business, failing sports team, group of people who desperately need money)
-One member of the group suggests a risky and unusual solution
-The rest of the group is opposed to the idea, being stuck in their ways
-It starts to go well, but then something terrible happens, setting the whole thing back
-Over time, the group have grown to embrace the new idea, rally round together, and save the day
Now I've looked on TVTropes and I can't find a name for this trope but it's the case for Calendar Girls, Moneyball, probably others, and this film, Kinky Boots.
The struggling group is a men's shoe factory, the crazy idea is making boots for drag queens and transexuals, and if you're thinking in your head that there's probably a really butch guy working in the factory who has a big problem with the whole endeavour and then ultimately is the one that convinces everyone else that it's a good idea after a change of heart, you'd be goddamned right. I've read other reviews for this film that decry it's 'stereotypical brit-com' formula, but I disagree. Not that it has a predictable story, because it definitely does, but when that predictable story is done well, it can't help but make you feel happy. Along with watching two characters fall in love, or seeing a protagonist's heretofore unknown master plan be revealed to a befuddled villain, a group of people coming around to help out a previously downtrodden hero is one of my favourite things to watch in a film.
It helps that throughout the film Chiwetel Ejiofor is a fantastic presence. Funny, bold, outrageous, but showing enough vulnerability to make him a proper character and not just a cartoon tranny, he improves every scene he's in. Sarah-Jane Potts is another lovely presence, providing sweet positivity to our hero in the face of criticism from others. The love story crafted is believable, and cute, and super fun to watch. The only weak link is the lead. Joel Edgerton is an American, and this is not an American film. Now there are times when that isn't a problem, because some Americans can do breathtaking English accents. Joel is not one of them. It's not terrible, but it's not perfect either, and accents need to be perfect, to avoid taking you out of a story. And he has a tough job as well, with this being set Oop North (or the Midlands, as is pointed out in one of the best lines of the film) his accent should be a Northampton accent, and not a generic 'English'. That's a mild complaint though, and the rest of his performance is strong, showing boyish vulnerability, and a lack of confidence in what he's doing, which transforms into a desperation to save his company and his people from redundancy.
Overall, this is a film I enjoyed thoroughly, but would probably fall into the guilty pleasure category, rather than bona fide classic. But for me, the result is the same: