When wannabe marketing man Charlie Price (Edgerton) if forced to take over the family footwear factory he finds it's no shoe-in.

To begin with he's got to give 15 loyal employees the boot because cheap Slovakian imports are squeezing out the traditional English brogue.

Then he discovers his father - an employer revered by the workforce - had soled them out…offering the factory to property speculators.

Realising he's got to find a new niche market if the company is to stay on its feet, straitlaced Charlie hits on the idea of thigh-length kinky boots.

He's inspired by a trip to London when he saved drag queen Lola (Ejiofor) from a mugging and ended up in her transvestite cabaret club The Angel.

Faced not only with the burden of trans-gender bigotry, it appears the traditional female stilleto will just not bear the weight of a man. What's a girl/guy to do?

Charlie invites Lola up to the Midlands ("This is Northampton - it's not Soho!") and invites her to work for his tottering firm as a designer.

However, she's got to overcome knee-jerk prejudice while Charlie's got his ambitious fiancee to rein in before they head to Italy and the Milan Shoe Fair.

Wry rather than laugh out loud, this is a perfectly amiable comedy from the people that brought us Calendar Girls.

Slotting firmly into the slightly awkward Brit-comedy mold, it's a bit Priscilla Queen of the Desert doing a bit of part-time work for Coronation Street's Baldwin's Casuals.

The highlight is Ejiofor's richly detailed performance as Lola, a brassy torch singer with a vulnerable side who just happens to like dressing in women's clothes.

Edgerton makes an undemonstrative lead - which is not necessarily a bad thing - while there's erm, well-heeled, support from the likes of Nick Frost as a laddish cobbler who has his prejudices challenged.

Tough and reliable, it's more Doc Marten than Jimmy Choo.

Tim Evans