Charlie Price (Edgerton) has just moved to London with his girlfriend (Rooper) when his father dies (Pugh). Now he has to return to Northampton to run the family shoe business, but Old World quality isn't as popular as it used to be, and the business is on the brink of bankruptcy. A chance meeting with the colourful drag queen Lola (Ejiofor) changes Charlie's life. And Lola's too, as he designs a new range of outlandish footwear to restore the company fortune. If, that is, the buyers in Milan go for it.

The story has a standard structure, building to the big show in Milan with various relational entanglements along the way. And the script nimbly dances through the story without ever getting heavy handed about it, while nicely avoiding most cliches. The characters are just complex enough that we both believe them and travel with them on this journey. After years of solid work Down Under, Edgerton has been waiting for a big leading man role, and he handles it with charm and personality, nicely balanced by Rooper and Potts (as his assistant). Meanwhile, Ejiofor steals the film with another astonishingly layered, energetic, impeccable performance. Lola is absolutely wonderful--a fascinating mixture of flashy showmanship with an undercurrent of realistic self-doubt.

So it seems strange that the filmmakers strip Lola of any sexuality. Despite constantly talking about how these boots are raw sex, Lola has no romantic life at all, which may make the character more family friendly, but leaves the heart and soul of the film stuck in a corner with no way out. Fortunately there's enough sharp wit in the script and direction to win us over and make us forget about this serious dramatic misstep. The epilogue might be melodramatic and preachy, but it's also thoroughly sigh-inducing. The climactic sequence might be far-fetched, but it's also deeply fabulous.

themes, language, brief violence

4.Aug.05