Grown men who should know better and kinky boots
Morris Minors. The car was a back-up car in case any of the presenters’ cars should break down, which naturally one of them did. As it turned out, it was the Morris Minor that proved to be the best of the cars, much to the shock and annoyance of the trio. Lots of very silly fun.
All in all, I haven’t had such a good laugh in ages. Definitely a must watch just for the comedy value.
The other highlight of the week was Kinky Boots (Sunday, 19th July, 10.25pm, BBC1). Charlie Price, who has no real interest in shoes, reluctantly inherits a failing shoe factory after his father dies and he inherits the family business. This rather messes up his plans of moving to London with his girlfriend and starting a job as a saleman. After having to make 15 of the company’s employees redundant, he’s shocked into re-thinking his plans by Lauren, one of the company’s employees who’s young, enthusiastic, and has ambition.
When Charlie accidentally meets a drag queen, Lola, after coming to Lola’s rescue when “she’s” being hassled by a gang of yobs when he visits London, he finds himself in the Soho drag club where Lola works, and he sees that she has a problem getting decent boots that fit and are strong enough to support the weight of men. Lola/Simon, six foot odd and an ex-boxer looks stunning in 6″ heeled thigh boots, but has a problem getting boots to fit, so Charlie offers to make Lola some boots. So impressed with the boots is Lola (”You are making 2.5 feet of irresistible, tubular, SEX!”) that she ends up going into business with Charlie, when he comes up with a plan to try and get into a niche market supplying footwear for drag queens and transvestites. Aided by Lauren, whose enthusiasm is infectious, and with Lola (also known as Simon) going to Northampton to help with the design of the boots, the trio find themselves battling with the factory’s workers who aren’t too keen on taking orders from a drag queen who’s more of a man than they are.
The small-town provincial attitudes of the factory’s workers shows the other side of Lola, Simon who says, “Put on a frock and I can sing ‘Stand by Your Man’ in front of five hundred strangers… Put on a pair of jeans and I can’t even sodding well say hello”. The film is an interesting mix of pure comedy (Don, one of the factory’s employees, and Mrs Cobb, Charlie’s cleaner who asks an embarrassed Lola, “ Can I just ask, are you a man? Just so’s I know how to leave the toilet seat”) and poignant misunderstanding and entrenched bias and discrimination. In the midst of all this there’s the problem of Charlie’s posh (and very irritating) girlfriend, who wants to convert the factory into expensive appartments and whose other obsession is finding the right shoes for their wedding.
The production of boots and shoes is in full swing, and the factory’s flat out trying to get their new range ready for a Milan trade show. There are of course some dramas along the way…will the range be ready in time for the show amongst them.
“Change your mind about someone”, says Lola, and indeed Charlie does, Lola’s story challenging Charlie’s views of transvestites, and Lola, and Charlie realises that people are more important than family tradition. The film’s a nice lighthearted comedy, but with an underlying message of a need to be open-minded and not to pre-judge, but it’s not a “preachy” film, and there’s laughs all the way through. Quite thought-provoking though, and one of the best films I’ve seen for a while.
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