Customer Reviews

The Full Monty (Widescreen)

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The Full Monty is hard to categorize. It is very funny, yet it is heart-wrenching in places, with great performances by all the actors. So let's not worry about what it is, because it will leave you laughing and smiling for days. Seeing this movie will also boost your optimism and make you charge ahead on those dreams you have had on the back burner. The funny scenes are absolutely hilarious. You will want to watch them over and over.

A motley group of unemployed British steel workers hatches a plan to be male strippers. Gaz, the main character, saw a group of Chippendales dancers pass through town on a one-time show with great success. Although his group lacks the looks and the moves, Gaz is not deterred. His primary motivation for this enterprise is to come up with child support money so he can spend time with his son.

The human interest story is what makes you root for these characters. There is strong language, a scene of attempted suicide, impotence, strong male sexuality, and a homosexual scene. The working-class accents are unbearably hard to decipher for the first fifteen minutes, but you get used to it.

The music is fantastic. This movie is so unique that I wish everyone would see it.

Six men who were laid off when their Yorkshire steel mill closed are desperate for money. When a one-night Chippendales show comes to town and is a big hit, they decide to make their own strip show, and to make it more interesting, they'll go completely nude! The men are neither big and buff nor good dancers, but they put their hearts into preparing for the big night.

This absolutely charming comedy has many touching moments, thanks to the well-developed and sympathetic characters we come to know: One is a divorced dad (Robert Carlyle) who needs to raise child support money, one is an overweight and depressed husband (Mark Addy), one cares for his aging mum, and one (Tom Wilkinson) hasn't had the nerve to tell his credit card-happy wife that he's been unemployed for six months. All of the actors are perfectly cast and it's worth the price just to see the venerable Wilkinson bump and grind to "Hot Stuff."

Gritty location photography and a lively, Oscar-winning disco soundtrack help create the mood of despair giving way to hope. The North country accents and slang are sometimes unintelligible, but that in no way detracts from the fun. This fast-paced and sweet film made with a tiny budget went on to break UK box office records. Highly recommended.

This is an exemplarary example of the kind of wry, sociologically observant humor that the English do so well (and that we do so poorly, if ever). A brilliant and touching portrait of Sheffield, out-of-work steelworkers, the English working class, gender relations, and much more. I've seen it perhaps a dozen times, and each time I not only have laughed at the same jokes, but have also noticed some nuance that I overlooked before.

Without re-hashing the plot, suffice to say that this is one of the more original and accomplished feel-good films you'll ever see. The story focuses on a bunch of lovable unemployed lads in Sheffield, England, following the collapse of the local steel industry (the film opens with one of those "Progress Is Today" film-reels we all watched in elementary school and sets a perfect tone for the rest of the film). Their rallying cry: an all-male strip tease. The set-up: minimal dancing talent and a low beefcake factor.

Instead of a bunch of caricatures, "TFM" gives us a fully realized ensemble, even with some touching scenes from the women who inhabit the fringes of the film. The dense accents give the flick a delightful authenticity , and the cast has some wonderful comic timing as well as the ability to pluck the heartstrings at the right moments.

"TFM" builds from a great premise to one of the best closing scenes in recent years -- you'll either be on your feet cheering or on the floor laughing, and maybe both.

The DVD offers good sound and picture quality, but there is a notable lack of extras. Still, better a good flick and no extras than a mediocre flick and a bunch of goodies.

This low-budget sleeper is indeed very pleasant entertainment. A clique of down-on-their-luck buddies have an idea to give their financial bad times a shot in the arm: Why not work on a one-night stand act as Average Joe "Chippendales", packing the house with a bunch of Average Jane woman, and go "Full Monty".

Several side plots hint at how desperate these guys are to make a "come back". One man's custody battle to keep seeing his son, another one keeping the bad news of being fired from his wife (for 6 months!), yet another contemplating suicide. There is an impressive Classic Disco Sound Track, featuring big hits like "You Sexy Thing", "Hot Stuff" and "You Can Keep Your Hat On", worked into all of the "practice", fantasy and show scenes.

Although this film is very enjoyable, I would never consider it "Best Picture Material". The Motion Picture Academy must have some strange criteria in selecting each year's nominees. On a scale of 1 to 10, this one ranks a 7 with me. Best Picture Candidates should include only 9s and 10s. Oh well.****

Hilarious and touching. Deals with heavy issues without forcing anything down your throat and keeps you laughing. Man-strippers unite!

What a fun way to use up an evening. It is not a deep movie, it will not give you insight into British politics or humanity itself, just lots of good laughs.

We watch as 6 unemployed Yorkshire bloks work up the courage and, dare I say, the talent, to go the Full Monty after the Chppendale Dancers swagger their goods through town. Seeing this as an easy way to fatten their wallets we go through the emotions of these every day guys trying to just make it in the world when they lose their jobs, their furniture and lives when the Steel Mill they work in closes.

It is great to watchthe relationships in this movie. That between Mark Addy's character and his wife that he thinks is cheating on him, because he sees himself as to fat. Addy and Robert Carlyle as friends is fun and funny. The greatest relationship to watch is between Carlyle and the kid who plays his son Nate. All this stripping hulabaloo started as a way for Carlyle (Gaz) to repay his back child support so he can continue to see his son whom he loves very much, though he may not always be the best role model. The kid is in on some of the casting calls and helps with the music. All the characters are a shear riot to watch.

I highly recommend this film. It has a broad range to reach more than just those who enjoy British films, it is not that stuffy! great listening to and trying to decipher the dialect while keeping up witht he movie.

What a fun way to use up an evening. It is not a deep movie, it will not give you insight into British politics or humanity itself, just lots of good laughs.

We watch as 6 unemployed Yorkshire bloks work up the courage and, dare I say, the talent, to go the Full Monty after the Chppendale Dancers swagger their goods through town. Seeing this as an easy way to fatten their wallets we go through the emotions of these every day guys trying to just make it in the world when they lose their jobs, their furniture and lives when the Steel Mill they work in closes.

It is great to watchthe relationships in this movie. That between Mark Addy's character and his wife that he thinks is cheating on him, because he sees himself as to fat. Addy and Robert Carlyle as friends is fun and funny. The greatest relationship to watch is between Carlyle and the kid who plays his son Nate. All this stripping hulabaloo started as a way for Carlyle (Gaz) to repay his back child support so he can continue to see his son whom he loves very much, though he may not always be the best role model. The kid is in on some of the casting calls and helps with the music. All the characters are a shear riot to watch.

I highly recommend this film. It has a broad range to reach more than just those who enjoy British films, it is not that stuffy! great listening to and trying to decipher the dialect while keeping up witht he movie.

I was quite impressed with this story centering on a hard-luck post industrial town and its desperate but likeable inhabitants.

The main character represents a type we are all familiar with, a man who believes that charm alone will bring him all he wants and needs...until his ex-wife puts his back to the wall with a threat to withdraw access to his young son unless he starts paying court ordered child support.

This slick slacker is someone you'd be hard pressed to find sympathy for until you understand the very deep love for his son battling the Peter Pan immaturity of his nature.

What a wonderful light bulb clicking moment when he finds his ex accompanied by his luckless pal's wife at a Chippendale type entertainment.

Believing his own talents equal to the money making muscle bound strippers, he sets off on a journey of self-discovery dragging his skeptical but loyal young son along.

As he ensnares one after another of the down-on-their-luck former employees of the defunct factory into his get rich by getting naked scheme, each unknowingly becomes the kind of man he didn't believe possible.

But will this timid team of cash poor prancers go the whole way in front of everyone they know? I won't spoil the ending but beyond going "the full monty", they reveal more to themselves than the town.

If all women can be beautiful, then all men can be sexy! This truly hillarious movie shows an out-of-work group of men trying anything to make ends meet. When their womenfolk all go off to see the touring Chippendales show, the ringleader of the guys decides that stripping might not be such a bad gig. After all, all you have to do is dance a little and take off your clothes, right? And they need the money, one guy hasn't told his wife that he's lost his job and she keeps spending money, another needs to pay back child support or forgo seeing his son, and still another just needs the shot of self-esteem to save his marriage. They gather together a group of followers, book the club, and set about creating their act. Well, with a little soul searching and some some dance lessons, this eclectic group of men (most of them not in the least bit handsome) show us that ALL men can be sexy in the right get up and stripping to the right music!