April 13, 2006
The titles of most of this week’s new movie releases would look every bit as enticing on the marquee of a Pussycat Theater, as the signs informing passers-by of the fare at your local mega-plex. Consider: “Wild,” “Sisters,” “Kinky Boots,” “Hard Candy,” “The Notorious Betty Page,” “La Mujer de mi hermano (My Brother’s Wife)” and, through blurry eyes, “Kekexili” … “Kooky Lezis,” perhaps?
Throw in “Scary Movie 4,” and it’s exactly the kind of schedule Jack Valenti would have said demonstrates the need for the MPAA ratings board. Parents won’t have a clue as to which movies were made for general audiences, and those meant for adults.
And, sure enough: “Candy,” “Page,” “Sisters” and “Hermano” are rated “R.” as they probably should be; “Scary” and “Kinky” are PG-13; “Kekexili” goes out unrated (in Singapore, it’s PG); and “Wild,” an animated feature from Disney, is “G.” The possible sticking point with “Wild” arrives in the nickname, “Spaz,” which is attached to director Steve Williams.
You might recall that the PC police forced golfer Tiger Woods to apologize for applying the same word to his performance at last weekend’s Masters. Personally, I couldn’t care less. It might be advisable, however, for Disney drop the moniker on the DVD boxes.
Of the several movies opening Friday, I’ve only seen “Sisters” and “Kinky Boots.” I wanted to preview “Betty Page,” but no invitations for screenings arrived in my overstuffed mailbox. Judging from the early reviews posted on Metacritic, the biopic didn’t meet anyone’s expectations. Its primary flaw apparently was its avoidance of anything remotely controversial.
“Kinky Boots” belongs in the same category as such Brit working-class crowd-pleasers as “Billy Elliot,” “Brassed Off,” “The Full Monty,” “Calendar Girls” and “Blow Dry.” Julian Jarrold’s tale is based on the true story of a traditional men’s footwear factory, in Northamptonshire, which saved itself – and a couple dozen jobs — by producing platform-heel shoes and boots for transvestites.
Why transvestites and drag queens? Because women’s shoes and boots are designed to support the weight and gait of the typical woman, not men of greater weight and bulk.
Charlie (Joel Edgerton) is an ambitious young man who inherits the dying business from his father. Besides the factory, his dad left him a huge pile of bills. It isn’t until the lad runs into a sore-footed drag-diva, Lola (Chiwetel Ejiofor), that the light bulb goes off in his head. Ejiofor is a large man, and, as the featured attraction in a drag revue, Lola encourages Charlie to take a shot on the new line of footwear. For the idea to bear fruit, however, the boots must past the muster of fashionistas huddled at an Italian shoe expo. Throw in a bumpy romance and some homophobic shoemakers, and, well, you can guess the rest.
“Kinky Boots” is fun, if overly expository. At 107 minutes, it felt long. Foot fetishists aside, the film should appeal to fans of the above-cited against-all-odds melodramas. Ejiofor’s touching performance, too, is worth the price of admission.
“Sisters” is a horse of a completely different color. It, too, features several splendid performances — including Oscar-quality efforts by Maria Bello and Tony Goldwyn – but the dialogue overflows with bile, and there’s hardly a character who isn’t encumbered with one debilitating character flaw or another.
Richard Alfieri’s stageplay and script were inspired by Chekhov’s “Three Sisters.” This adaptation places the Russian siblings in the hoity-toity milieu of a private big-city college, while the place to which they’re longing to return is a posh post-bellum home in South Carolina.
What emerges is a world-class bitch-fest that more closely resembles
“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” on steroids than your local repertory company’s interpretation of “Three Sisters.” The critics hated it, but I kind of enjoyed watching a half-dozen cloistered academics — and an upwardly mobile blond bimbo — tear into each other in the king’s own English (certainly that of our reigning president). There wasn’t a missed syllable, or a “like, you know,” in the entire 113-minute length of the film. Anyone looking for new epithets and curses to throw at a spouse, in-law or sibling will find “Sisters” most instructive.
Director Arthur Allan Seidelman, whose background is almost entirely in television, has created an environment that’s too claustrophobic and stagebound to be even remotely credible. The actors have to work double-hard to break through fourth wall, and the effort shows.
Maria Bello, though, as the sister most embittered by her imprisonment within the family legacy, couldn’t be better. Her Marcia is alternately nasty, empathetic, vulnerable and tremendously sexy. Goldwyn plays her long-ago admirer, also married, who turns her inside-out with lust and longing. Anyone casting an updated version of “Virginia Woolf” need look no further for their George and Martha.
Among these titles, only “Scary Movie 4” is likely to make an impression at the box office, if only for old time’s sake. Mainstream audiences need not fear being left too far behind, however, as Hollywood’s summer officially begins next week. – G.D.

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