Kinky Boots 2005

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: Quite enjoyable, effortlessly well-done on every level, even moving at times, but relatively light weight. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Kinky Boots is hilarious and poignant enough to suspend skepticism and erase doubts. Read more

Tom Keogh, Seattle Times: Gradually, boots and transvestite jokes become window dressing for a more touching story about the bond between Lola/Simon, a disowned son, and Charlie. Read more

Neva Chonin, San Francisco Chronicle: The only thing kinky about this movie is its title. But maybe there's an upside to this: Parents, if you want to teach the kids about sexual difference without having to deal with sex, here's your chance. Have I mentioned it's heartwarming? That too. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: The main problem is that it's not very kinky at all. Read more

Steve Murray, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Oh, do come in, love -- welcome to the Twee Brit Comedy Factory. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: Drag queens are people too, Kinky Boots limply, earnestly pleads. Most viewers will respond, 'Yes. And?' Read more

Randy Cordova, Arizona Republic: Kinky Boots sounds like some kind of fetish fantasy, but it's actually a good-natured and rather sweet British comedy that charmingly touches on issues of manhood and friendship. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Lola, at least the way Ejiofor plays her, has a sad story she's eager to tell. The movie never entirely figures out what to do with this. Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: A humanist parable about how to be a good person, live a good life and make gallons of lemonade when life suddenly hands you lemons, it's predictably delightful and delightfully predictable. Read more

Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle: It's a predictable and preachy stab at a comedy with heart, and its subversive silliness is eclipsed by an overwrought humanity. Read more

David Germain, Associated Press: It has heart and soul (and sole). What Kinky Boots lacks is kick. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: The best reason to check the film out is [Chiwetel] Ejiofor's performance, which is packed with grace and wit and pathos. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Don't let the title toss you. The accent on this charmer about a shoe-factory owner who finds a muse of economic recovery in a drag queen rests on the boots more than the kinks. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Our friends across the pond have gone daft trying to satisfy a worldwide desire to see a reserved populace get plucky. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: It's a feel-good movie that happens to dress in drag. Read more

Chuck Wilson, L.A. Weekly: Kinky Boots is diverting, but it's only worth shouting about thanks to Ejiofor's quietly subversive take on what has become a stock movie character. Read more

Peter Debruge, Miami Herald: As long as England keeps exporting these empty-headed little stories about how backward and prudish its populace is, it's difficult for the rest of the world to take the nation's more pressing social concerns seriously. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Kinky Boots shoehorns what should be a fresh story into the same old pair of narrative galoshes. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Yet another one of those heartwarmers about Great Britain's plucky eccentrics. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Despite the subject matter, the script and direction are disappointingly conventional, though the performances are appealingly spirited. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: You'll giggle and laugh and never look at those things on your feet the same way again. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: With Kinky Boots, we find ourselves watching another one of those British comedies in which unconventional sex is surrounded by a conventional story. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Even in light comedy, Ejiofor is a commanding presence. As queen or king, he rules. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Kinky Boots would be little but a gender-bending retread of The Full Monty if it weren't for Ejiofor's regal Lola. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: [Ejiofor] gives us the real kinky; everything else here is just an assembly-line boot. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The movie is a bit of all right, as they say down at the Nob & Gobbler. Read more

Trevor Johnston, Time Out: Overall, it's breezy, forgettable fluff, but 'kinky'? Obviously, the term is relative. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: It would be nice to be able to report that Kinky Boots is a kick in the pants. But this conventional, manipulative British import feels like a re-soled pair of shoes that unquestionably have seen their day. Read more

Derek Elley, Variety: A slick, cross-tracks Britcom whose stride is hampered by its desire not to offend. Read more

Matt Singer, Village Voice: Why are movies 'inspired by a true story' always the most contrived? Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: Director Julian Jarrold and screenwriters Geoff Deane and Tim Firth trade in hackneyed dualities. Read more