The Full Monty

I

For a lot of people, their job is a fundamental part of who they are. It is demoralizing when that job, once a promising career, is taken from them, and they have to try and find themselves again. Being laid off can affect a person emotionally and lead to someone sinking into despair and depression. You start thinking you’re worthless, a failure. These emotions only increase the longer you stay unemployed or underemployed. 

I have had a time or two in my life where I was between jobs and struggling to find gainful employment. It’s humiliating and frustrating trying to sell yourself to someone, struggling to look confident but feeling totally unqualified for whatever job you are applying for. Fortunately, I have never been involved in a mass layoff situation where a large group of people are flooding the job market and making it virtually impossible to find work. But even in my own situation, that feeling of desperation is there, compounding with each day as bills start to come due and you realize that the longer it takes to get money coming in again, the worse it will be to get caught back up.

All of these feelings and memories were stirred up in my mind as I watched the opening moments of 1997’s The Full Monty, a film that sets the stage by showing us the booming steel industry in Sheffield, Northern England, then hard cuts to the then present day where the steel factories are shut down, and all the employees have been laid off. As I write this, it is in the headlines everywhere that manufacturers like Jim Beam are closing down their distilleries for a year or more, laying off their employees in a town that is reliant on that company’s business. Auto manufacturers are shutting down or “trimming the fat”, laying off hundreds of workers, and the situation only seems to be getting worse. Retail stores are shuttering doors, and a lot of people cannot afford even basic necessities. It puts people in a situation where they either adapt or starve. 

In The Full Monty, we are introduced to a handful of such men who, put in this position, come up with a bold, but unique, idea to handle being unemployed. They are a ragtag group of individuals that have only one thing in common: they are desperate to regain a bit of dignity, even if they have to humiliate themselves to get it. Inspiration strikes when Gaz (Robert Carlyle) sees an advertisement for a Women’s Night Only event featuring the Chippendales. This event is packed full of women of all types, spending money to see handsome men barely dressed, gyrating on stage. Gaz sees this and thinks, “I can do that.” The only problem is, he is scrawny, not conventionally attractive, and uncoordinated. But he needs to earn some money to fulfill his child support payments and take care of his son, Nathan (William Snape). 

He manages to convince Dave (Mark Addy) to join up. Dave is overweight and self-conscious about it, but he, like Gaz, is desperate to earn money again and feels like a failure for being unable to secure employment. Gaz and Dave manage to recruit Gerald Arthur Cooper (Tom Wilkinson), their former manager at the steel mill, who hasn’t told his wife yet that he is still unemployed. He is facing having his belongings repossessed and is desperate to avoid having that hard conversation with his wife. These three hold auditions, along with Lomper (Steve Huison), a security guard at the mill they once worked at, and recruit two more men: “Horse” Mitchell (Paul Barber), an older man who can dance a little, and Guy (Hugo Speer), a younger man who has little coordination but comes with other, more impressive, assets. 

This motley group of misfits tries to learn some moves, only to discover none of them can really manage to work together and coordinate a routine. Eventually, they have a trial run inside the abandoned steel mill in front of half a dozen older women, but this is busted up when a guard catches them. Dave, Gerald, and Gaz are arrested for indecent exposure, while the other three flee and escape prosecution. This jeopardizes Gaz’s visitation rights with his son as Nathan has been assisting them with their practices, and now child services has rightfully stepped in. Everything seems to be unraveling. But their advertisements, along with word of mouth, have brought interest in their show, which promises to show more than the Chippendales can—the full monty, as it were—and they have sold lots of tickets. There’s only one thing left for them to do…go on with the show. 

If the Chippendales can make thousands of pounds by stripping down to their speedos, then why can’t Gaz and his mates make a buck by going all the way, full monty? The logical response to that is that the Chippendales are prime specimens of manhood, sculpted muscles, six-packs, and handsome features, whereas Gaz and the others are not. The Chippendales are also professionally trained dancers. What do Gaz and the others have? They have Gerald, who takes dancing lessons with his wife but knows nothing of this kind of dance, forcing them to watch Flashdance and analyze Jennifer Beals. This is, of course, years before Magic Mike, so they have to go with whatever film they would have access to back then. 

Can Gerald teach them how to dance for this? Sort of. This leads us into some of the funniest moments in the film as these men struggle to keep in time with each other and not trip over their own feet while trying to remove articles of clothing. The best moment here is in line at the career center, and Donna Summer’s Hot Stuff comes on over the radio. These men, who are on the verge of giving up on the stripping idea, can’t help but start dancing suggestively to the song, much to the chagrin of the others in line with them. 

This is a comedy and a bit of a farce, but it is also grounded by scenes where we see the family lives and the sheer desperation of these men put in a situation that is not their fault. Gaz is divorced but really wants to make a go at being a father to his son. He cannot do that if he cannot take care of his financial obligations to his ex-wife. Dave is feeling insecure as a man and is afraid he is failing as a husband. When his wife finds his speedo and naturally assumes he is stepping out on her, he breaks down and confesses to what he has been doing all this time, revealing his vulnerabilities and insecurities to her. Her response sums up their relationship from her point of view and is one of the many examples of how much heart this film actually has.

Beneath the humor and the absurdity, there is a lot of that heart here. There is also a lot of well-earned character moments that turn these men into more than mere characters written in a script. We come to care for them because we can empathize with the fear and self-loathing that comes with being unable to find work. Most of us would like to think we would never resort to stripping to make some money, but if the situation were dire enough, we just might. But this film is not really about the stripping either. It’s about finding the confidence to put yourself out there and be proud of who you are, warts and all. In the finale, some men have bought tickets to the show, and Gaz is afraid to step out on that stage and face any jeering from that audience, men he knows well. We know how it will end, though, and it doesn’t disappoint. It’s not as raunchy or graphic as you might expect, but it’s a satisfying climax for this picture. 

Anyone who is  wanting more after that freeze frame at the end, there is a limited-run series that came out a couple of years ago that reunites the cast again. I watched the first episode in preparation for this review, and all I can say about it is that the emotional core that makes this movie so much fun just isn’t there. They tried to catch moonbeams in a jar a second time, and it didn’t quite work out. This wasn’t a story that needed the continuation, but it is out there if you want it. 

The Full Monty may be bawdy and full of some rather tame risqué humor, but it’s a load of fun, too. It’s also much more emotional than you would expect from a concept like this. That carried it all the way to the Oscars in 1997, where it unfortunately faced up against Titanic. No film stood a chance against that behemoth, least of all a low-budget British comedy about male strippers. But this film is way better than that concept would seem to allow; its themes have stood the test of time, and it is still relevant to this day.

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Picture: Uberto Pasolini

Best Director: Peter Cattaneo

Best Writing - Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen: Simon Beaufoy

Best Music - Original Musical or Comedy Score: Anne Dudley (won)

____________________________________________________

Release Date: August 13, 1997

Running Time: 91 minutes

Rated R

Starring: Robert Carlyle, Tom Wilkinson, and Mark Addy

Directed by: Peter Cattaneo