The Full Monty
At times it is hard to decide if 1997 release The Full Monty is a feel good film, or a feel bad one. Sheffield ’s desolate post-industrial settings form a depressing backdrop to the positive tale of redemption and comradeship – and male stripping. The loss of so many jobs and much of a city’s identity is no joke. But the way the disparate band members - unlikely rivals to the Chippendales - unite and learn how to dance, and then pluck up the nerve for ‘the full Monty’ i.e. stripping to nothing, is life affirming whatever the future holds for them after their big night. And the movie has some great comic moments : dancing without knowing it in the dole queue; copying Arsenal ’s offside trap to get one routine right; the faces of the audition panel when (off-screen) Guy reveals his incredible manhood. Robert Carlyle , the lead, had made his name in Trainspotting the previous year, but for Mark Addy and even perhaps Tom Wilkinson The Full Monty was their breakthrough. Wilkinson as in so many of his subsequent movies out acts the rest, bringing real pathos to his debt-ridden and desperate character; Carlyle also often plays it more for tragedy than comedy. The resulting film thus squeezes the emotions before releasing the laughs, making the denouement all the more life-enhancing. The film was made on what amounts to a shoestring in movie terms, about $3 million; its revenue is supposedly well over $0.25 billion now.
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