Kinky Boots (2005)
March 10, 2019 10:40 AM - Subscribe
A drag queen comes to the rescue of a man who, after inheriting his father's shoe factory, needs to diversify his product if he wants to keep the business afloat.
Somewhere in Britain I presume there is some sort of contraption with a spinning wheel or wheels which is used to come up with the elements for whatever "Scrappy Brits save __________ by going outside their comfort zone to do _________," movie is being made that year but they're mostly harmless and you know what to expect when you're watching one.
This could have benefited significantly from less simplistic characterization but it was far from the worst in the genre and it had nice use of a Kirsty MacColl song. Is there really much more about it to be said?
posted by Nerd of the North at 12:26 PM on March 12, 2019
This could have benefited significantly from less simplistic characterization but it was far from the worst in the genre and it had nice use of a Kirsty MacColl song. Is there really much more about it to be said?
posted by Nerd of the North at 12:26 PM on March 12, 2019
Sometimes when my depression starts to get bad, I'll spend the evening doing what my husband calls "YouTube RabbitHoles". I watch the same set of videos over and over again to soothe myself. The Kristy MacColl runway scene is always on the list. So I'm indebted to the filmmakers for that bit of joy.
posted by librarianamy at 5:38 AM on March 14, 2019
posted by librarianamy at 5:38 AM on March 14, 2019
Kinky Boots is one of those movies that I get drawn into re-watching whenever it pops up on cable. (And last night I finally got around to seeing the Broadway musical adaptation which is closing next month from its 6-year run. Not bad - some spectacular dancing and a stunningly beautiful Lola, but I love the movie better. The line “ladies, gentlemen, and those who have yet to make up their minds” hasn’t aged well though.)
posted by oh yeah! at 2:32 PM on March 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by oh yeah! at 2:32 PM on March 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
“ladies, gentlemen, and those who have yet to make up their minds”
Yeah, it's far from perfect. But, if you're in the mood to let it slide in a clearly good-hearted film, I think it's possible to give it a charitable reading. I think it's fair to say "ladies" and "gentlemen" doesn't necessarily include cis people only, and yeah, "those who have yet to make up their minds" is a bad way of describing gender diversity, but I guess I want to let it slide because it feels more like a joke about some aspects of gender ambivalence in drag than a serious claim that people whose gender doesn't fit into cis heteronormative constructs are just waiting to "make up their minds". I guess it's the sort of allowance I'm ok with making, but I feel like people who have been exposed to significant harm because of their gender identity might quite reasonably feel differently.
Kinky Boots is one of those movies that I get drawn into re-watching whenever it pops up on cable.
It's definitely one of those movies.
posted by howfar at 5:20 AM on March 16, 2019
Yeah, it's far from perfect. But, if you're in the mood to let it slide in a clearly good-hearted film, I think it's possible to give it a charitable reading. I think it's fair to say "ladies" and "gentlemen" doesn't necessarily include cis people only, and yeah, "those who have yet to make up their minds" is a bad way of describing gender diversity, but I guess I want to let it slide because it feels more like a joke about some aspects of gender ambivalence in drag than a serious claim that people whose gender doesn't fit into cis heteronormative constructs are just waiting to "make up their minds". I guess it's the sort of allowance I'm ok with making, but I feel like people who have been exposed to significant harm because of their gender identity might quite reasonably feel differently.
Kinky Boots is one of those movies that I get drawn into re-watching whenever it pops up on cable.
It's definitely one of those movies.
posted by howfar at 5:20 AM on March 16, 2019
But, if you're in the mood to let it slide in a clearly good-hearted film, I think it's possible to give it a charitable reading.
Oh, sure - it was in the context of the Broadway show that it got a little cringeworthy. Not so much during the performance itself, but after curtain call when they did the traditional plug for donations to Broadway Equity Fights AIDS, the Charlie actor tried to get the audience to chime in on "those who have yet to make up their minds", and mostly nobody did - maybe because we'd reached the point of the plugging where people were already starting to edge out of the aisles, but I'm sure I couldn't have been the only person in the theater who didn't say it because they didn't want to say it.
posted by oh yeah! at 6:38 AM on March 16, 2019
Oh, sure - it was in the context of the Broadway show that it got a little cringeworthy. Not so much during the performance itself, but after curtain call when they did the traditional plug for donations to Broadway Equity Fights AIDS, the Charlie actor tried to get the audience to chime in on "those who have yet to make up their minds", and mostly nobody did - maybe because we'd reached the point of the plugging where people were already starting to edge out of the aisles, but I'm sure I couldn't have been the only person in the theater who didn't say it because they didn't want to say it.
posted by oh yeah! at 6:38 AM on March 16, 2019
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Chiwetel Ejiofor is a treasure.
posted by acidnova at 11:45 AM on March 10, 2019 [5 favorites]