Unemployed men in the north of England are willing to try anything to scrape together a living and at the same time, uphold their dignity. The plan is to hold a fund raiser in the bar, with male strippers.
This is a compelling story on many levels, for there’s more at stake than a bit of money and having some fun. Fatigued and out of work, the men wonder if they’re still men. Dave is afraid of losing his wife, Gaz is already divorced, and their suicidal pal Lomper is living a dreary celibate life
Given the programme, the film seems oddly innocent. It’s a comedy about male full-frontal exposure, or, as one character puts it, men prancing around Sheffield with their widgers hanging out. Rife with nudging and guffawing, the steelworkers turned male strippers are less raunchy than awkward and well-meaning.
What The Full Monty is, though, is political, in a gentle way. Great characters and very good acting by Tom Wilkinson and Robert Carlyle, among others. Worth watching even now, sixteen years later.
Painted on the barricade
