Todo o nada

The Full Monty offers a seductive, playful piece of comic gumption: Six unemployed steel workers become amateur male strippers, baring themselves as an antidote to the dole. The title is British slang for "buck naked," but the film isn't about nudity, or lust, exactly. It takes as its subject the free-falling sense of desperation provoked by unemployment. As these flaccid bodies strive to exude "sexiness," director Peter Cattaneo turns their struggle into a blue-collared survival reflex, which yields a thin yet agreeable amount of emotional weight.

Robert Carlyle plays a bitter but devoted divorced father trying to meet his support payments so his son will trust him, and Mark Addy just wants to provide for his nurturing wife, who worries about the secret G-string buried in her flabby husband's underwear drawer.

Suffering ritual-humiliation for the sake of loved ones, these men pawn their dignity for economic survival. Cattaneo allows the script to hint at the social and fiscal conditions endured by the working-class under Thatcher, but mostly he avoids politicizing the material. Instead, he aims for rowdy, laugh-out-loud passages about awkward pseudo-debauchery. Perhaps The Full Monty settles for rather broad, coarse humor, but it has intensely pleasing charms and Cattaneo gives it an unexpected deadpan consistency. He exposes the comedy of shame, and then the comedy of shamelessness.

ERIC BELTMANN

I remember this movie when it originally came out. It looked interesting, but I was younger at the time and I wasn't allowed to watch R-rated movies. Later, I finally saw this movie about three years ago on HBO. I laughed my a** off. It was so freakin' funny and I still think it is funny. I bought the "Fully Exposed" two disc DVD and I still love this movie. Yeah some people don't understand British humor, but I love it still. I grew up watching Bristish shows like "Mr. Bean" and "Are You Being Served?" I love those shows and I love this movie, I think it is one of the best comedies ever made. I highly recommend it, you will laugh as hard as I did.

When I first saw this movie, I absolutely loved it. With each successive viewing, I noticed the characters' emotions as they coped with the dirty hand that has been dealt to them and making the most of it. I also saw the immense bond between the men as they already shared the low-class existence and a rather bleak future but seeing nothing but an opportunity to be rich. And they were all willing to endure the humiliation in front of hundreds of people to achieve it.

Like M*A*S*H, the Full Monty shows people placed in a harrowing existence with seemingly no end in sight. Yet the laughs are sprinkled throughout nicely, and even though each man has their own personal fears to overcome, they find strength in each other, which makes the experience all the more fruitful.

The actors were absolutely top notch, particularly Robert Carlyle. I was already impressed with his performance from Trainspotting to know that he is very capable of carrying the central figure of the movie. Peter Cattaneo's direction was inspired, and he knew the right angles to use (check out the scene when the lads were auditioning new members, particularly Guy) for perfect comedic effect.

I admit that some of the sub-plots needed more fleshing out, particularly between Gaz and Nathan as well as Gerald and his wife. And as many times as I've seen the movie, I don't know much about Guy other than his love for Singing in the Rain and his obvious natural endowment that took the breath away from his mates!

The music was terrific as well. I dare anyone to deny that they had to consciously stop tapping their feet when hearing "Hot Stuff" after watching this movie.

I have been to Sheffield recently, so the movie holds even more personal meaning for me. And for all those complaining about the accents being difficult to understand, watch it again. It's in English not Chinese! The accents are part of the charm. I rate this movie a solid 8.5 out of 10 and worth seeing many times over.

Unemployment is no joke (as an ex-pat Brit living and sometimes working in the US, I can confirm that with a vengeance). But sometimes, with a little vision and a lot of confidence (or desperation - take your pick), you can either find a way out of the depths of despair, or at the very least lighten the load a little, even if only for a short time. You take your pleasure wherever you can find it.

This movie will undoubtedly strike chords with those who have been unemployed long term, especially in the north of England (or in the Midlands or indeed anywhere. Depression - economic, social or clinical - knows no boundaries).

It's a smile, unless of course it *doesn't* strike a chord with you. Then you'll see it as a politically charged documentary with a few unnecessary laughs that ring very hollow.

But this isn't another Boys from the Blackstuff and I don't think it ever intended to be. The characters in this story are less focussed on pleading "Gissajob" and more inclined to say "Gissasmile". There is social commentary, yes, and it's well made (in my opinion, obviously), but the bigger message, I think, is that when life sucks - and it can do, most of the time - you don't have to give in to the feelings of utter despair.

You can fight back, you can refuse to be bowed, and for everyone in the awful predicament of being willing and able to work but being unable to find anyone willing to give you a chance, there is the possibility of finding a ray of sunshine, even if only temporarily, in an otherwise grey and depressing condition.

And it's those little rays of sunshine that help to give you hope. A laugh here, a giggle there, a bit of extreme silliness once in a while - it all helps keep you sane.

And that's what is enjoyable about this movie: it's the story of a group of men trying to stay sane even if it means losing some of their dignity in the process. And the one thing you notice towards the end of the story - and it's certainly capable of being true of real life - is that in raising their own spirits, the main characters here also raise the spirits of those around them.

They also remind me of myself and some of my friends. I could see myself taking part in something like this, albeit reluctantly (since I'm pathologically shy), just for the hell of it.

And doing something just for the hell of it is what makes this movie one of my favourites.

This is a great black comedy. A bunch of losers down at the job centre have no hopes of getting a job. As the film progresses, it picks up momentum as the big date approaches. Some great scenes of 80's Britain, the job centre, the clubs, the houses with paper-thin walls and low ceilings. You know what the finale is going to be, but it doesn't detract at all from the enjoyment of the film. It doesn't get political, as some other commenters have complained, but why should it? This is about the consequences of 80's Britain, not the causes. The characters are 100% believable, in their appearances and their behaviour. The fat one is the sort you see on a Saturday night in just about every city centre pub in England (and at the football matches too!). A pity some viewers from across the pond couldn't pick up the accents, that's not altogether surprising but consider that this film was probably not originally intended for worldwide distribution and if you had taken the accents away you'd have taken away also a lot of its charm.

PS: Sheffield, where the film was based, is actually quite a nice town in many areas.