The Full Monty (M, 91mins) Directed by Peter Cattaneo ****½
Sheffield. Home of cutlery and a football team somewhat bizarrely referred to as Wednesday.
It was a boom town when steel was big, but in the late 1990s, like many towns in the north of England, much of the industry lay dormant.
Unemployment was understandably extremely high, with many men struggling out of work and – seemingly – hope.
Delivered
Robery Carlyle plays The Full Monty’s Gaz.
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The Full Monty’s focuses on a group of disparate and desperate ex-Sheffield steelworkers seemingly cast on the scrap heap, who spend their days traveling to and from job centers that they know offer little chance of real work.
Gaz (Robert Carlyle) needs more money than most. His ex-wife is behind on his alimony payments and threatens to take custody of his beloved son if he doesn’t get the money properly.
However, inspiration comes from an unlikely source. When he comes across the working men’s club one evening, Gaz is surprised to find that it is completely populated by women, all eyeing the visiting Chippendales as they display their belongings. Sensing the money making potential of setting up a similar locally produced and established business, he decides to hold auditions for a “comic strip” group. But with a somewhat shallower talent pool, will they be able to put on a show, let alone sell tickets?
Delivered
Released not long after the gruesome Showgirls and the ridiculous Striptease, The Full Monty Hollywood showed how a stripping movie could and should be made with style and charm.
Only the British could have made such a riotous, crowd-pleasing comedy from such a potentially depressing premise. This could have been a dark little drama about [John] Major’s Britain, but instead offers feel-good fun that is still great fun 25 years later.
Humor as black as the ace of spades permeates the film (Gaz and his buddies destroy someone else’s job interview by hosting a Punch and Judy show with his garden gnomes in an adjacent window is a highlight), but they’re real laughs created by the sheer inventiveness and sympathy of the main characters. Just as importantly, they come across as real people dealing with real problems—everything from obesity to depression, divorce, and two left feet.
Released not long after the lurid tasteless Showgirls and the ridiculous Striptease, The Full Monty, showed Hollywood how a stripping movie can and should be made with style and charm.
Delivered
Only the British could have made such a riotous, crowd-pleasing comedy from such a potentially depressing premise.
It was also the film that made Carlyle a global star. Sure, he’d charmed audiences in Hamish Macbeth, wowed us in Priest with his sensibility, and scared us with his unusual twists in Trainspotting and TV’s Cracker, but Gaz’s golden heart and eye for a dollar just struck a chord with moviegoers. everywhere.
Of course, Monty’s real joy (aside from the brilliant, toe-tapping soundtrack that includes everyone from Hot Chocolate and Tom Jones to Diana Ross) was in the ensemble. Mark Addy, Tom Wilkinson, Steve Huison, Paul Barber and Hugo Speer all spotlight and grab their moments – with unforgettable effect.
The Full Monty is now streaming on Disney+.