WFTB Score: 12/20
The plot: Desperate to raise cash to keep in touch with his son, unemployed chancer Gary spots an opportunity to make money by forming a troupe of strippers who ‘dare to bare.’ Unfortunately, he has to pick his talent from the jobless of Sheffield, a motley crew of varying ages and sizes. With such little…experience, can they prepare themselves properly for curtain up – and clothes off?
Just as Deep Impact and Armageddon are forever destined to be assessed in relation to each other, The Full Monty is invariably compared to Mark Herman’s Brassed Off, released a year earlier in 1996. Both feature Northern industrial towns that have seen better times – this film opens nicely with a promotional film for Sheffield, ‘town on the move’ – and both feature brass band music, in this case a factory band that has outlived the factory. Beyond that, however, the films have little in common.
The Full Monty follows Gary Schofield (Robert Carlyle), a struggling father made redundant from a Sheffield steelworks. Sneaking into a women-only night at the local workingmen’s club, he discovers the women enjoying a Chippendales show. Initially dismissive, Gary hits upon the idea of forming his own version of the Chippendales once he learns of its money-making potential. Gary needs the money as he is struggling to keep up with maintenance payments for his son Nathan, for whom his ex-wife and her new partner are considering applying for sole custody.
Though many obviously thought Gary a lovable rogue, my main problem with The Full Monty is that I didn’t find the central character particularly sympathetic. Our first sight of him is as a thief, and although Carlyle convincingly portrays a father desperate to see his son, the fact that their time together finds Nathan (a competent debut by William Snape) operating the tape recorder or being sworn at undercuts the supposed bond between them. Gary ruins an interview for his former superior Gerald and drags his mate Dave out of work, both of them stealing jackets as they flee the supermarket; he almost bottles out of the big night performance too.
Much easier to like are the remaining members of what will become ‘Hot Metal,’ especially Gary’s pal Dave (Mark Addy), a chunky lad who shuts himself off from his wife because he is self-conscious about his physique. Gerald (Tom Wilkinson, effectively at the end of his tether) is also lying to his wife, pretending to be in work when his days are actually spent using his dance experience to choreograph the troupe. Nerdy, suicidal Lomper, buff Guy and ill-named ‘Horse’ complete the set, though they are not given a great deal to do – Lomper and Guy develop a relationship but very little is made of it, other than Dave commenting that there are ‘nowt so queer as folk.’
Along with the famous Hot Stuff sequence in the job centre (cringingly reproduced by Prince Charles, should you have conveniently forgotten!), Simon Beaufoy’s script contains some good laughs, for instance Dave criticising Jennifer Beals’ welding in Flashdance and the use of the Arsenal offside trap to bring a dance move together. Other jokes are a bit coarse, for my tastes at least – is a woman having a wee standing up hilarious? – but then the whole film relies on the premise of naked men being amusing. It’s clear that a point is being made about the emasculating effect of unemployment, but the tone of The Full Monty stands in marked contrast to the dignified gallows humour of Brassed Off.
How else do the two films compare? The difference is essentially one of perspective. Ignoring the economic reasons why ‘Hot Metal’ find themselves at Job Club, The Full Monty concentrates on the characters and their relationships. Brassed Off, for better or worse, takes in the wider political manoeuvres of which the pit town of Grimley falls victim: the closure of the pit is effectively a death sentence for the town. By contrast, Sheffield has simply evolved and, as Dave proves, other jobs are available. Gary’s ex-wife Mandy and her new man are doing well (she even offers Gary a job at her work), so his reluctance to take a job appears to come from a misplaced pride.
In conclusion, it’s a case of horses for courses, and as a comedy about men taking their clothes off, The Full Monty delivers. However, to compare this film with Mark Herman’s is to compare The Economist with The Beano. Cattaneo’s is consistently the funnier film, but it’s likely that only the Tom Jones song You Can Keep Your Hat On will stay in your mind once it’s finished.
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