by CHRIS BARRY

It’s Full Monty time—again. But here the issue that the colourful cast of working class Brits must confront in order to better their particular situation isn’t full frontal nudity, but transvestism. Just imagine all the mega-yuks to be had when the hillbilly staff of a Midlands shoe factory comes face to face with a big black London drag queen—with attitude. Oh my, will they ever be able to get past this creature’s fetishism to learn that he’s actually all-man—in fact, maybe even more man than the ignorant yet good-hearted yobs they are themselves? Hmm, what do you think? If you’re answer is, “Sheesh, I dunno, anything can happen in the movies,” then you may indeed enjoy director Julian Jarrold’s Kinky Boots.

It’s not all bad. At the very least there are a few decent performances to be found here, most notably Chiwetel Ejiofor as the big black fag who enlightens us all to the concept that trannies are people too—even if they do dress a little funny and maybe (although the subject is studiously avoided in the film so as not to upset anyone’s delicate sensibilities), might also like to gnaw down on man meat every once in awhile.

Charlie Price (Joel Edgerton), a sympathetic young man aspiring for a marketing career in London, has just inherited Price & Sons, his father’s struggling Northampton shoe factory best known for manufacturing conservatively bland men’s loafers. The factory will soon shut down if Charlie doesn’t figure out a way to save it. On a trip to London he comes in contact with a feisty transvestite named Lola who inspires in him the wonderful—if oh-so-risqué—idea of tapping in to the overlooked trannie market by producing over-the-top stripper boots designed exclusively for men. Deciding to help him out for seemingly no reason whatsoever, Lola jettisons to the Midlands in order to better supervise the design of said boots and, by extension, mess with everyone’s preconceptions about transvestites.

The plot is full of holes, with absolutely no surprises, but if you can get past Kinky Boots’ adolescent approach to transvestism, there is, in fact, an iota of charm to be found here. Not much though.

Kinky Boots opens Friday, April 21

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