The Full Monty (1997) - Film Review

Starring: Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, Tom Wilkinson & Paul Barber

Screenplay: Simon Beaufroy

Directed By: Peter Cattaneo

Certificate: 15

 

During production of The Full Monty back in 1997, nobody could have anticipated the critical and commercial success that it would achieve. With a low budget for a feature film, it wouldn't have been feasible for it to earn around eighty-five times its budget back. The film critics also had low expectations for the film, and expected a comedy that wouldn't deliver and would be grossly unfunny. The Full Monty broke both financial and critical expectations and became one of the highest grossing British films of 1997. It has proved so popular with audiences that it has since been adapted into a musical and a stage play. However, does The Full Monty still hold up today and continue to make its audience laugh?

 

The Full Monty follows unemployed men, Gaz Schofield and Dave Horsefall, as well as Gaz's son Nathan, as they struggle to make ends meet in contemporary urban Sheffield. Suffering as a result of lack of employment and money, Gaz discovers the amount of money that can be made from a stripping act in a local club, and in the hope of making money, he starts recruiting a group of local out-of-work men to form a striptease act. This is a premise that makes for laughs in every single minute of the film. Seeing these men practicing is easily one of the funniest parts of the film, with such things like one of the men taking off his belt for it to smack another stripper in the face; and the men all treading on each others' feet, being utterly hilarious moments.

 

Aside from the comedy aspect of the film, it also manages to paint the real-life problems and issues at the time very well. The film bravely deals with such issues as child custody, depression, obesity and suicide in a very mature way. When it comes to finding solutions to these problems, the film remains realistic in subtly saying that they don't all have a happy ending. For instance, Linda kicks Gerald out of his house when the bailiffs arrive and she discovers that he's been practicing to be a stripper. This fracture in their relationship is never resolved, and the film tries as lightly as it can to say that some things cannot be fixed. But its far from being constant doom and gloom, and the gritty realistic world here does contain moments that are thoroughly charming and heart-warming, including moments such as Nathan withdrawing money from his bank account to help his dad become a success, or the touching scene where Dave and Jean finally make up.

 

Simon Beaufroy's screenplay is absolutely stellar, as I honestly doubt if there is a minute that goes by without a laugh. Personally, the standout moments of humour for me were Dave trying to help Lomper with his car, before realising that he was trying to commit suicide, and the now famous moment in the job centre queue, where the men start dancing to the song "Hot Stuff". Simon Beaufroy has also done a fantastic job at developing each of the characters. The two most fleshed-out characters are easily the central characters - Gaz and Dave. While Gaz is definitely the brains of the film, Dave is the heart, and easily my favourite character. Actors Robert Carlyle and Mark Addy work off each other wonderfully, and their delivery of the dialogue is on point.

 

The direction from Peter Cattaneo is also on form, complimenting the script whilst breathing some life into a fairly bog-standard setting. However, as hilarious as The Full Monty is, it does suffer from a couple of teething problems. Firstly, throughout its runtime, The Full Monty seems to divide class structure into those who are struggling and those who are successful. The film inaccurately seems to say that there is nothing in between this - somebody who isn't exactly struggling but at the same time, isn't exactly living the ideal lifestyle. Throughout the film, we also see many sub-plots revolving around different things, whether it be characters' relationships, or seeing a character go into even greater financial crisis. However, there is one sub-plot brought up that never seems to get any kind of resolution, and this is Lomper and Guy's relationship. In the second half of the film, there are several moments that show these two characters are in a relationship, but the film doesn't do anything with this subplot. It drops the odd hint, but never goes anywhere with it.

  

To conclude, even with the occasional minor hiccups, The Full Monty is a film that is fully deserving of its reputation. There is simply no way in which you cannot laugh at either the physical or verbal humour, as throughout the run-time, it never grows stale. At the same time, the film remains faithful to its Sheffield setting  and Simon Beaufroy's writing is fantastic, complimenting some great direction from Peter Cattaneo.

 

 

The Full Monty


9/10