Kinky Boots
In the town of Northampton, in the East Midlands of England, Charlie Price is attempting to save the family shoe factory, which has been floundering since his father died. While on a business trip to London to sell the company's extra stock, Charlie encounters a woman being harassed by drunken hoodlums and intervenes to his detriment. He wakes up backstage, in the dressing room of Lola, a drag queen performer and alter ego of Simon. Charlie is intrigued when he sees that drag queens' high heels snap easily since they have only women's shoes to wear, rather than those that can support the weight of a larger male body frame. Back in Northampton, while in the process of making his workers redundant, one employee, Lauren, gives Charlie the idea of looking for a niche market product to save the business. Charlie then recruits Lauren to assist him in designing a high-heeled boot for Lola, initially as a thank-you, but later as a means of finding a niche to save the factory.
When their initial designs are met with scorn by Lola, Charlie and Lauren bring her on as a consultant. The road is initially bumpy: many of the male employees are uncomfortable with Lola's presence and the new direction, and Charlie's relationship with his fiancée, Nicola, begins to deteriorate as she encourages him to sell the company. Although things improve when Lola tones down her personality and starts making friends, matters take a turn for the worse when Charlie is invited to showcase the new boots in Milan; the strain he puts on his employees causes most of them, including Lola, to walk out.
Charlie's fiancée arrives at the factory, furious that he took out a second mortgage on their house to save the company. Nicola insists that he sell the company, but Charlie is determined to save it and the jobs of his employees. The argument (which ends with Nicola leaving Charlie) is broadcast on the factory's PA system, which is overheard by Lauren and Lola's bitterest opponent at the factory, Don, a chauvinistic male worker. Don turns over a new leaf after Lola had graciously allowed him to win the arm wrestling match he was the champion in, and rallies the factory workers to make the boots in time for Charlie and Lauren to get to Milan. After arriving in Milan with no one to model the boots, Charlie is forced to go onstage and model the boots himself as the ultimate symbol of his dedication to his workers and his acceptance of Lola. After tripping and ultimately falling flat on his face, Lola and her posse of drag queens arrive, put on a spectacular runway show, and save the day.
In the film's denouement, Lola headlines her own show and sings a song in honor of the "kinky boots factory" of Northampton. Most of the key workers are in attendance and enjoying themselves, including Charlie and Lauren, who have become a couple.
queer, flashback