trailing the success of brit humour in the movie industry with the likes of the semi - dramatic the commitments and the nearly slapstick a fish called wanda , the full monty is one film which delivered the depth of the former and the humour magnitude of the latter .
the film opens with a narrated documentary reel showing the improving economic and living standards of sheffield in the 60 's , then cut to the harsh reality of the present .
sheffield has become some sort of a semi - slum with the only visible increase in anything was the amount of layoffs from steel - factories ;
a once flourishing industry .
gaz ( carlyle ) spends most of his time in the worker 's club , a sort of place where jobless people sit around to wait for job offers .
he and his ` plump ' friend dave ( addy ) as well as their former foreman gerald ( wilkinson ) have been sitting around the club for months without any ` call for duty ' .
what seemingly was just a passing hard time for gaz suddenly transformed itself into desperation when he can not afford the 700 pounds of child - support money to his ex - wife .
suddenly finding himself facing the possiblity of losing custody of his son , he goes on to concoct an enterprising wild - idea to get the money he desperately requires .
dave and gerald too have problems of their own .
on top of his lack of employment , dave is also faced with the paranoia of his wife leaving him because of his current financial state as well as
his`plump ' appearance while gerald have been cheating on his wife by not telling her of his layoff for as long as 6 months , leaving home for ` work ' when he was actually a long - standing member of the worker 's club .
there we have it ; people with real problems and a not - so - practical solution for them .
gaz manages to get the support from them and sure enough they managed to get a few other poor jobless blokes to join in their gag : to perform a strip - act at the local pub .
in gaz 's own words while looking at an add for a strip - act featuring hunky ` beautiful ' men , ` if women are willing to pay for this , they sure as well will pay for real - men ' .
the full monty is very simple in nature and not a trace ambitious at all .
it is a small film which delves in the harsh - reality of unemployment and the desperation it drives people to .
it also is a very light movie to watch despite the theme it delves in because it has a lot of human - factor going for it .
never for once , was it trying to be manipulative at all , the full monty was true to itself all the way .
while the hilarity level of this film soared unexpectedly high , audience will find that they are in no way being cheated of a laugh , something lacking in many comedy films ( wannabes ? ) from hollywood .
other than carlyle , who acted as the psychotic begbie in trainspotting , the rest of the actors were definitely very new to me on - screen . however ,
the acting presented in this film is more than satisfying .
carlyle 's work here is a stark contrast to his character in trainspotting , implying real acting skill and flexibility on - screen
. kudos to the people involved in this film , especially to director peter cattaneo for being able to put together an excellent film which is has so much potential in ending up as your just - another - striptease .
already a critical and financial success for such a small film , the full monty is a humble film which deserves applause throughout .
while titanic managed to feast the eyes and soul in an epic way , the full monty gives one the same satisfaction ? ? . in half the time .
Output: P