Like some other films from the UK I've watched in the past, I didn't think too much of it when I first viewed it, but after a couple more viewings I start to generate more of an appreciation for the film. I just recently bought the DVD, since it was only $9.99 at Target. I guess I wanted a little diversity, since I have nothing but American movies in my collection. Watching it for the third time, I sat through the whole movie smiling. I still don't think it deserved an Oscar nomination, but let's face it--there are many other films that got nominated (and some that won) for an Oscar that deserved to a lot less. The point is it's a funny movie with fine acting, which at the same time manages to be endearing and warm-hearted. Sure, these characters swear like sailors and don't exude a conventional sweetness. Yet we fall in love with them. They're just a group of working-class lads struggling to put money in the bank. And I think that's the glue that kept this film together--we love these characters. This is not a filthy, mean-spirited comedy--and with a premise like this it certainly could've been tempted into that route.
At first, I felt the writer and director weren't using the premise to its full advantage. When I first heard about this movie, I thought the premise was brilliant: a group of unattractive guys who decide to become strippers. Sounds hilarious! Well, to my surprise the whole wasn't about their dreams to become male strippers. And now that I think of it, it worked better that way. In comedy, you have to be careful not to fall too much in love with the premise, because then it'll become a one-joke comedy and it'll fall to pieces. This is not a one-joke comedy. The stripper thing merely sets up the film. The story deals more with the friendship between these characters. And there are some great moments of truth, including one touching scene where Mark Addy indirectly tells his wife that he's too fat and ugly to be a stripper, but she completely denies the idea. The scene is not schmaltzy or melodramatic. It seems very real and endearing. Though these characters may not be as handsome or buff as the Chippendales dancers, they're not reduced to ugly caricatures. We do laugh when Tom Wilkinson says that great line, "You're too fat, you're too skinny and you're both f**kin' ugly," but we're laughing with them, rather than at them. In most of the comedies you see nowadays, characters like that wouldn't be treated so sympathetically.
"The Full Monty" is a bright, funny, intelligent, tasteful comedy that will most likely keep a smile on your face. I definitely recommend it.
My score: 7 (out of 10)
At first, I felt the writer and director weren't using the premise to its full advantage. When I first heard about this movie, I thought the premise was brilliant: a group of unattractive guys who decide to become strippers. Sounds hilarious! Well, to my surprise the whole wasn't about their dreams to become male strippers. And now that I think of it, it worked better that way. In comedy, you have to be careful not to fall too much in love with the premise, because then it'll become a one-joke comedy and it'll fall to pieces. This is not a one-joke comedy. The stripper thing merely sets up the film. The story deals more with the friendship between these characters. And there are some great moments of truth, including one touching scene where Mark Addy indirectly tells his wife that he's too fat and ugly to be a stripper, but she completely denies the idea. The scene is not schmaltzy or melodramatic. It seems very real and endearing. Though these characters may not be as handsome or buff as the Chippendales dancers, they're not reduced to ugly caricatures. We do laugh when Tom Wilkinson says that great line, "You're too fat, you're too skinny and you're both f**kin' ugly," but we're laughing with them, rather than at them. In most of the comedies you see nowadays, characters like that wouldn't be treated so sympathetically.
"The Full Monty" is a bright, funny, intelligent, tasteful comedy that will most likely keep a smile on your face. I definitely recommend it.
My score: 7 (out of 10)