The Full Monty

The Full Monty was, in the most literal sense, a real thigh-slapper, at least as far as I was concerned. Peter Cattaneo's comedy with a touch of social realism is about Gaz and Dave, two unemployed steelworkers in the industrial city of Sheffield, who hit upon a way of making a great deal of money. Gaz is divorced from his ex-wife, who will in future deny him access to his son Nathan if he does not pay child support, and Dave, whose self-confidence is at rock bottom because of obesity and impotence, needs a boost to his self-esteem. When Gaz discovers how popular male strippers are and how much money they earn per performance, he sets out to put on a strip show. Five other wildly different men join the dance troupe, and they have to overcome quite a few obstacles, not least within themselves, before they stand on stage in front of a large and enthusiastic audience in the film's climactic finale. What is special about the show is that the men do not keep their G-strings on (hence the title The Full Monty, which loosely translated means 'the whole lot'), but the film is not so liberal that the cinema audience gets more than six bare bottoms!

" The Full Monty" lacks the combination of equal parts comedy and social realism that "Brassed Off" contained, but the film does touch on some important themes, such as present-day female and male roles, and its humour is simply so life-affirming and lovely that it has to be a seven.