Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Kinky Boots Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 7, 2022

Source material for Broadway musicals can often come from unexpected arenas and/or have unexpected plot elements. Musicals "ripped from the headlines", or at least from ostensible "real life", include everything from the wake caused by the horrors of the terrorist attack on September 11 (Come From Away) to the backstage drama involving the writing of a certain iconic historical document (1776). As such, it probably really shouldn't come as that much of a surprise that an enterprising creative team was able to fashion a musical out of the real life story of a shoe manufacturer in northern England teetering on the precipice of bankruptcy which found an unusual "savior" of sorts when it started manufacturing shoes, boots and other footwear for drag performers. Of course, one reason why that team was able to create Kinky Boots: The Musical is because another creative team had already taken the basic underlying plot elements of a real life shoe entrepreneur named Steve Pateman whose efforts to keep his longstanding family business W.J. Brooks Ltd. afloat ended up being featured in a documentary broadcast in the United Kingdom, an effort which caught the attention of people ultimately associated with the film, and who decided it was the perfect idea for a movie. Perhaps unavoidably, given the fact that focal character Lola (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a so-called "drag queen" performing at a nightclub in London, even this "straight" (no pun intended) film version is kind of a quasi-musical itself, but for those who have either seen the stage adaptation or the filmed live on stage Blu- ray linked to above, this "original" outing can be a rather interesting prospect to view for those interested in how an adaptive process might work. Even given that perhaps "niche" interest on the part of some viewers, Kinky Boots is a sweet, sassy and rather provocative entertainment that manages to deliver a pretty sizable allotment of "heart" as it documents a businessman under duress forced to resort to completely unusual strategies to save his company.

Two little boys are quickly introduced, and it's clear they're experiencing radically different family dynamics. Little Simon (Courtney Phillips) likes to put on women's shoes and cavort on a boardwalk, much to the dismay of his father. Little Charlie (Sebastian Hurst-Palmer) is being schooled by his father in the "wonders" of shoe manufacturer, the family business of Charlie's clan for several generations. The story then segues to these men as adults, though the initial focus is on Charlie (Joel Edgerton), who is actually trying to break away from the family business in order to set up shop of a different kind with an uppity fiancee named Nicola (Jemima Rooper). When Charlie's father dies unexpectedly, he's suddenly drawn back into a business he really would prefer to have nothing to do with, finding out rather quickly that he may not have to have anything to do with it sooner rather than later, since it may very quickly be going out of business. A heartfelt desire to help the many employees who worked tirelessly for his father leads Charlie to embark on a perhaps futile attempt to save things.

A sudden realization about just how dire straits are with the shoe company forces Charlie to chase down some business opportunities in the "big city" of London, where an unfortunate skirmish introduces him to the now adult Lola (Chiwetel Ejiofor), whose birth name is actually Simon. An uneasy alliance is forged between these unlikely "partners" after some interstitial dramatics, resulting in Charlie deciding to go after a decidedly niche market segment, men who perform in drag and may need super sized footwear that nonetheless meet the requirements of their "characters". There's both humor and pathos on display, with a kind of wryly comic but sweet ambience that I'd compare generally favorably to such "fish out of water" escapades as Local Hero or The Full Monty.

The story has salient things to say about both defining yourself apart from anything imposed by a father, as well as perhaps even traditional notions of "masculinity", all within a really touching framework of a man attempting to salvage his family's business legacy. They say that truth is stranger than fiction, and while this account is no doubt fictionalized, it's an inherently fascinating (if admittedly kind of weird) story, buoyed by some extremely effective performances.

Kinky Boots Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Kinky Boots is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Paramount (and in a throwback to yesteryear, Miramax) with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. This is a really nice, organic looking presentation of the film, helped by some very commendable suffusion that keeps an almost jewel toned palette (at least when Lola is on stage) vivid and vibrant. Detail levels are very good to excellent throughout, and some of the close-ups of the finely textured footwear material shows appealing fine detail levels. There are some passing but minor deficits in shadow definition in some of the nightclub material, especially at the corners of frames where lighting isn't especially pervasive, but those are the exception rather than the rule. I noticed no major damage of any kind, and no compression anomalies.

Kinky Boots Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Kinky Boots features a nicely expressive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that tends to come most noticeably "alive", in terms of engagement of the side and rear channels, in some of the performance sequences where Lola and her backup singers and dancers get to strut their stuff. There's also some appealing background clamor in some of the shoe factory scenes, and "industrial" sound effects often have the ring of authenticity. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout, and all of the musical sequences sound nicely full bodied. Optional subtitles in English, French, Spanish and Italian are available.

Kinky Boots Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with director Julian Jarrold, and stars Joel Edgerton, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Sarah-Jane Potts can be accessed under the Settings Menu.


• The Real Kinky Boots Factory (SD; 14:32) gives a bit of background on the real life story that sparked the idea for the film and, later, the musical adaptation (though that wasn't yet a reality when this was made).


• Deleted Scenes (SD; 7:32) feature optional commentary by director Julian Jarrold.


• The Journey of a Brogue (SD; 1:15) is a kind of sweet short documenting the manufacture of a shoe.

Kinky Boots Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It had been years since I had seen this original film version of Kinky Boots, and in the intervening years I had Kinky Boots: The Musical show up both in my life as a musician and here at Blu-ray.com in my review queue, and so seeing this film again was kind of an interesting intellectual exercise for me, in terms of seeing exactly how the musical adapters went about fashioning their version based at least in part on this film. I have to say I think I probably like the musical better overall, but this original has a lot of heart and Ejiofor is extremely memorable in an obviously showy part. Technical merits are solid, and the few supplements enjoyable. Recommended.