‘Boots’ a fabulous romp with lots of sole

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In theaters

KINKY BOOTS, directed by Julian Jarrold, written by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth, 106 minutes, rated PG-13.

Julian Jarrold’s “Kinky Boots” is about a towering, torch song-singing drag queen named Lola (Chiwetel Ejiofor) whose influence on a struggling English shoe manufacturer puts the Hush Puppy, so to speak, on all things conservative.

There will be no flats or sandals where Lola is involved. Proper dress shoes? Forget it. Looking for a clog? Go to Holland. What this queen wants are kinky boots – comfortable, well-made kinky boots – the sort designed to support the weight of a man who dresses to perform as a woman.

The boots must be shocking (“Give me sex!”), yards of patent leather should be employed (“Give me red!”), and a good idea is to have at the calf a little stitched pocket into which one can tuck a whip. You know – for effect. Also – and this probably goes without saying – anything in faux leopard fur with a 7-inch stiletto heel would be plum, if only to add dice to what Lola sees as a long-overlooked niche – the drag queen, cross-dressing shoe market.

All of this might sound silly, but in the business world, finding your niche is key and it’s hardly always conventional. Many go where the money is, and as far as Lola is concerned, there is money to be had in drag queens who have been cramming their aching feet for too long into women’s shoes and boots. Indeed, as Lola might sing in one of her bawdy acts, “Enough is Enough.”

Naturally, predictably, circumstances conspire to bring her together with Charlie Price (Joel Edgerton), the young man who inherits his father’s respected, nearly bankrupt shoe manufacturing plant, Price & Sons, when the man dies.

Charlie hails from Northamptonshire, which is exactly the sort of uptight, repressed blue-collar town favored in so many of today’s popular British comedies, “The Full Monty” standing chief among them.

Since tolerance, understanding and a whole lot of loosening up are what these movies court, Charlie finds in his desperation that Lola is an inspiration. He hires her to design boots, a bold move that wrinkles his girlfriend’s nose, generates the romantic interest of a co-worker (Sarah-Jane Potts), and creates its share of tension among the grim factory workers, none of whom have seen anyone quite like Lola.

Based on the true story of the real Kinky Boot Factory in Northamptonshire, England, “Kinky Boots” steams and sighs, thanks mostly to its terrific performance by the dewy-lipped Ejiofor, who has done nothing in his previous movies (“Dirty Pretty Things,” “Serenity,” “Amistad” and “Four Brothers” among them) to prepare audiences for this. True, he plays Lola as perhaps the most family-friendly drag queen ever – she barely has a whiff of sexuality, which is a cop-out. Still, she does have that presence, there is fun to be had in her thirst for a good performance in great shoes, and by the end of the movie, when she’s doing the catwalk down a Milan runway, well, just try not enjoying the show.

Grade: B+

On video and DVD

16 BLOCKS, directed by Richard Donner, written by Richard Wenk, 105 minutes, rated R.

Richard Donner’s “16 Blocks,” now available on DVD and in high-definition on HD DVD, stars Bruce Willis as Jack Mosley, a washed-up, boozed-up, dried-up New York detective who is so down on himself and on life, he remarks early in the movie that life isn’t too short, it’s “too long.”

Looking at Jack, for whom a bottle never is too far out of reach, there’s no question that he means it. Balding, sloppy and overweight, his lined face crisscrossed with gutters of exhaustion and disappointment, Jack looks as if death might not just become him, but undo him – and fast. Not that he’d necessarily mind. The first time we see Jack, he’s hunched over the wheel of a city bus, a bouquet of blood roses is slowly blooming on his shirt, and the cops outside are eager to take him down in a hail of bullets. How did he get here? It’s complicated.

In flashback, the movie dissolves, with Donner sewing together a simple premise composed of familiar parts: Jack is charged by a superior to take a small-time thug named Eddie Bunker (Mos Def) downtown to court, where Eddie is supposed to take the stand in an effort to give testimony that will implicate a hive of dirty cops.

Thing is, as this movie sees it, cops don’t turn on cops, even if they’ve got the stink of crime all over them. Knowing this, Jack is hardly surprised when he’s confronted by his colleagues – including former partner, Frank (David Morse) – who believe that the best way to handle Eddie is just to kill him so they all can move on with their lives.

But Jack sees things differently – he rather likes Eddie. And there’s that small part of Jack that hasn’t been numbed by booze that would like to believe that he’s better than that. And so, when guns are drawn and shots are fired, “16 Blocks” becomes a chase movie in which Jack and Eddie suddenly are on the run.

What ensues are some compelling old-school thrills, with Donner ramping up the action within the congested streets of lower Manhattan. The film is tight and appealing, as are the performances by Willis and Morse, who take to their characters with the sense that each has seen and done things that innocent Eddie couldn’t handle.

Grade: B

Visit www.weekinrewind.com, the archive of Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s reviews, which appear Mondays in Discovering, Fridays in Happening, and Weekends in Television. He may be reached at Christopher@weekinrewind.com.

THE VIDEO-DVD CORNER

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores. Those capped and in bold print are new to video stores this week.

Big Momma’s House 2 – D

Breakfast on Pluto – B

Brokeback Mountain – A-

Capote – A

Cheaper by the Dozen 2 – C-

Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – A

The Constant Gardener – A-

Date Movie – D-

Derailed – C+

Dukes of Hazzard: Sixth Complete Season – C

Eight Below – B+

The Family Stone – D

Freedomland – C-

Fun with Dick and Jane – C

Good Night, and Good Luck – A-

The Hills Have Eyes – D

Hill Street Blues: Season Two – B-

A History of Violence – A

Hoodwinked – C

Howl’s Moving Castle – A-

Jarhead – B

Junebug – A

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang – B+

Last Holiday – B

Match Point – A

Memoirs of a Geisha – C+

The Missing: Extended Cut – B+

Mr. and Mrs. Smith: Unrated – B

Munich – A-

Nanny McPhee – B-

North Country – C

Oliver Twist – B+

Paradise Now – A-

The Pink Panther – C+

Pride & Prejudice – A

Prime – B-

The Producers – B+

Red Eye – B+

Rent – C-

Rumor Has It… – C-

Shopgirl – B+

16 Blocks – B

The Squid and the Whale – B+

Syriana – B+

Transamerica – B

Underworld: Evolution – C-

An Unfinished Life – C-

Walk the Line – A-

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit – A

The Warrior – B

The White Countess – C