The Full Monty

 

The Full Monty 1997

• Director: Alan J Pakula
• Based on a book: no
• Cast: Robert Carlyle, Tom Wilkinson, Mark Addy, William Snape, Steve Huison, Paul Barber, Hugo Spear, Lesley Sharp, Emily Woof
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Robert Carlyle – Yesterday, Trainspotting 2, SGU Stargate Universe, Stone of Destiny, 28 Weeks Later, Flood, Hitler the Rise of Evil, Black and White, Once upon a Time in the Midlands, Beach, The World Is Not Enough, Hamish Macbeth, Carla’s Song, Trainspotting, Go Now, Riff-Raff
• Tom Wilkinson - The Lone Ranger, The Best Exotic Hotel Marigold, The Ghost Writer, Valkyria, Michael Clayton, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Girl with the Pearl Earring, Shakespeare in Love, Wilde, Smilla’s Sense of Snow, Sense and Sensibility
• Mark Addy - Robin Hood, Doctor Who, A Knight’s Tale
• Lesley Sharp – Cranford, Doctor Who, Vera Drake, From Hell, Great Expectations, Naked
• Emily Woof – Velvet Goldmine, Photographing Fairies, Middlemarch
• Why? Robert Carlyle. Good film.
• Seen: Two or three times before. Now 16 August 2020

             Sheffield was known for its thriving steel industry and then its glorious age degenerated into unemployment, petty thievery, economic despair.  

             Gaz (Carlyle) is a cheeky, big-mouth misogynist who is offended that the townswomen are all excited by the Chippendales. He feels threatened by women earning and especially by his ex-wife Mandy (Woof) who’s going to court to get sole custody of their son Nathan (Snape). He’s not the only one who is desperate. His mates are desperate too. Desperate enough to put on their own strip show.

       It takes a bit of planning, you could say. And that’s what the film is about. It’s sad and funny, pathetic and warm-hearted. And those lovely British actors.

       Mind you, the whole idea of stripping is demeaning in this our sexist society but the film, while funny, is also a political statement on gender. On several levels.

       Which is why I like it so much. That and Robert Carlyle’s perfect pathetic vulnerable cockiness.

 

5*  of 5