Viewed in
1998, 2013
Formats
VHS, HDTV
Premise
Six unemployed English steel workers form a male striptease act to raise money.
Loved
Charming characters, undertones of masculinity.
Liked
Performances, comedy.
Thoughts
Re-watching this as an adult, this lovable gem made so much more sense, and thankfully still held up in humor and charm.
Like most motley crews, you get certain expected archetypes. But their subplots and arcs were specific, fleshed-out, and executed with winning performances, especially Robert Carlyle as the troublesome divorced dad, Mark Addy as the self-conscious fat man, and the great Tom Wilkinson as the finance/pride-shackled former boss. All of their middle-lower class plights were relatable and fueled their humanity.
It got good mileage out of the premise of non-hunky dudes trying to replicate sexy male strippers. Yet it was done without being demeaning to the characters. As I've grown familiar with British humor over the years, I got to enjoy the darker jokes of suicide and male body image. In addition, the football (soccer), pop culture, British caste, redhead, and gay references/subtext made much more sense to me now.
Released in 1997, it was fascinating to see how it portrayed gay men. There was a gay subplot that would felt tame. But more shocking was how much gay slurs were used in their dialog. I guess you could defend it, claiming it reflected the vernacular of working class men before homosexuals were more accepted. But personally, it felt like it was awkwardly somewhere between ignorant/insensitive and hurtful.
Depending on how much realism you want, you could make a complaint that the ending wasn't a sustainable solution to these jobless folks, but I viewed The Full Monty kind of like a fairy tale. A very charming and funny story with plenty of humanity and truths, stemming from the needs/desperations/insecurities of everyday unemployed males.
