The Full Monty (1997)

A surprise nominee for Best Picture of 1997, The Full Monty relates the story of how six unemployed steel workers in Sheffield turn themselves into a unlikely male strip act. This is one of those films that seemingly comes from nowhere to capture everyone's attention, and the Academy saw fit to reward that success with a nomination for Best Picture. I'm not sure that the film itself deserves such recognition, but it is certainly an entertaining film and it has contributed its title phrase to the general lexicon.

All of the actors are good here, particularly Robert Carlyle as Gaz, the "founder" of the act. Gaz gets inspired by seeing the number of women who show up one night to see a Chippendales-style show at one of the local bars. I guess it's the next logical step to think that you too could be a stripper, especially since you have no other job prospects and your ex-wife is about to take away your custody rights to your only son. Not to mention that you're a bit scrawny and a little haggard-looking. Yet Gaz has some pretty remarkable faith in his abilities, and Carlyle as an actor is light years away here from his role as Begbie in Trainspotting.

He is ably supported by Mark Addy as the member who feels his weight will be a problem (he gets most of the best lines), Tom Wilkinson as the gnome-loving choreographer who has yet to reveal to his wife that he's lost his job, and the rest of the dance-challenged troupe. The scene where they start to dance while listening to Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff" is one almost everyone will remember because it does show just how much they bond as a group, how much they are in sync with each other. I was also intrigued by how readily the rest of the guys accept the romance between Lomper and Guy; it seems that everything is all right with them so long as the project moves forward. (As an aside, the scene where they are "revealed" as a couple to the rest of the guys is the first time I had ever heard the expression "queer as folk.")

The title refers, of course, to full nudity, the promise of which manages to fill the bar on the night of the group's performance. To get to that night, there are some distractions, of course, but none of them too serious to keep this act from happening. Despite the overarching theme of chronic unemployment, the film manages to maintain a light-hearted tone, even when grappling with a subject as serious as suicide. It's just all a bit of fun, isn't it? Again, I'm not certain that this was truly one of the five best movies that year, but you certainly can't quarrel with the feeling you have at the end of this rousing little film from England.