It's 1972, and the town of Sheffield, England is booming, thanks to the highly successful steel industry. A voiceover cheerily explains the many uses of steel, from making cutlery to steel girders, and describes the happy, busy workers of the town.
Flash forward to 1997. Sheffield's steel factories have been shut down, and its former employees struggle to find new jobs. Gaz (Robert Carlyle) and his best friend Dave (Mark Addy) are so desperate for money that you find them at the start of the film trying to abscond with a steel beam from their old mill so they could sell it. Their plan fails miserably, and the two head home empty-handed. Along the way they notice a long line of women in front of a club advertising a men's strip show. Gaz and Dave laugh at this, stating that "real men" such as themselves would never be caught dead stripping. However, when Gaz's ex-wife and her new husband threaten to obtain full custody of his son Nathan (William Snape), Gaz realizes that he'll do anything to keep Nathan, even if it means swallowing his male pride.
Although The Full Monty is often touted as a comedy, it's not just one funny scene after another. There are many serious themes, many of which deal with the roles of men in modern society. When the men of Sheffield lost their jobs, many became depressed, felt emasculated, and unsure of themselves. While Gaz feels like a failure in front of his son, Dave has distanced himself from his wife, and is increasingly concerned with his appearance. Their ex-foreman Gerald (Tom Wilkinson) hasn't told his wife that he's been unemployed for the last six months. Lomper (Steve Huison), an ex-security guard at the mill, is found by Gaz and Dave attempting suicide. As Gaz recruits these men and a few others for his plan, all find that they have nothing left to lose — except their clothes.
That being said, it's a funny movie. The Full Monty isn't side-splitting, Will Farrell movie funny, but there are some good moments. Since much of the dialogue is peppered with heavy British slang that's unfamiliar to many Americans, most of the humor is visual rather than verbal. For example, there's the classic queue scene which features our band of would-be strippers subtly rehearsing their dance steps while waiting in line for their unemployment checks. Then of course, there's just the whole idea of a group of middle-aged, out of shape men stripping.
The cast was great, especially Wilkinson and Addy, who wonderfully balanced drama and comedy in their roles as Gerald and Dave. While these two characters had many funny scenes, actually they're two of the more serious roles, as they dealt with their wives and unemployment in their own way. Carlyle was good as Gaz, but I didn't feel that his character had as much depth as the other two leads. Yes, he had problems with his ex-wife and son, but they seemed to be quickly resolved, as opposed to that of Gerald and Dave, whose issues haunted them throughout the entire film.
Article comments
1 - Morgan
To compare The Full Monty to a Will Farrell movie is not a good comparison, in my opinion. Will Farrell movies and The Full Monty are completely different. Will Farrell goes for stupid funny (and sometimes not even funny), while this movie goes for partially realistic and funny.
2 - Deb
A must see after one loses their job and before one waits in the unemployment line.