Scan and Pan
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
The Full Monty
Unemployed Sheffield steelworkers Gaz (Robert Carlyle) and Dave (Mark Addy) are desperate to earn some money. Gaz is particularly desperate for money because his ex-wife is threatening to sue for sole custody of their son because Gaz is behind on support payments. After they observe how many women are willing to pay to see Chippendales dancers, they decide to give stripping a try, recruiting their ex-foreman Gerald (Tom Wilkinson) to teach them how to dance and holding auditions to round out their troupe.
The original screenplay by Simon Beaufoy is a well-observed piece about unemployed working class men whose dignity has been literally stripped away by an economic downturn and their own insecurities, and while it's not without its dark moments, like many great comedies the humor comes from an achingly real situation that the characters are faced with. It never becomes bleak, because even the darker moments are played as black comedy. It's funny while touching on some very serious issues. Peter Cattaneo's subtle direction captures the lives of the characters and their situation with a compelling yet naturalistic approach, wisely avoiding making the comedy so exaggerated that you feel no real connection to the characters beyond laughing at them. This film makes you care about them, too.
Cinematographer John de Borman (Photographing Fairies, Hideous Kinky) uses soft, flat lighting to convey the mood of a depressed industrial town, while the combination of an Oscar-winning score by Anne Dudley (The Crying Game) and pop songs form a sly soundscape that perfectly accents the humor.
Carlyle is outstanding as Gaz. For all of his character's joking and laddish behavior, you can tell that he cares deeply about his son, his best friend, and eventually even the new friends he makes. Addy is equally good as Dave, whose lighthearted demeanor masks a deep-seated insecurity. Wilkinson's Gerald is believable when he can't bear to tell his wife that he's unemployed and goes to great lengths to conceal it from her. The rest of the cast is good, too, with Steve Huison as the closeted gay former security guard Lomper, Paul Barber as an older man called Horse who has lots of dance moves, Hugo Speer as Guy (who's selected for the troupe because he's well-endowed), and William Snape as Gaz's son Nathan, who goes from merely tolerating being with his father to encouraging him.
The Fully Exposed Edition DVD features a crisp video transfer, although the print used for the transfer shows some minor scratches and dirt at times. It offers multiple audio options, including the original English audio track. When it was released in the US in 1997, the original actors redubbed their lines with weaker accents so US audiences could understand them. I watched it with the original audio track and had no difficulty understanding the dialog. There are also interviews with the cast, plus commentary by Addy and Cattaneo. The second DVD offers numerous 'making of' featurettes which are informative and shed much light on the film.
The Full Monty won the BAFTA's Best Film Award and was also nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. The Fully Exposed Edition reveals that the film has aged very well and is still a brilliantly funny film with great heart. Highly recommended.
[4.5 stars out of 5]
A decade after its original theatrical release, this brilliant comedy has been re-released on DVD in a special edition called the Fully Exposed Edition.
Unemployed Sheffield steelworkers Gaz (Robert Carlyle) and Dave (Mark Addy) are desperate to earn some money. Gaz is particularly desperate for money because his ex-wife is threatening to sue for sole custody of their son because Gaz is behind on support payments. After they observe how many women are willing to pay to see Chippendales dancers, they decide to give stripping a try, recruiting their ex-foreman Gerald (Tom Wilkinson) to teach them how to dance and holding auditions to round out their troupe.
The original screenplay by Simon Beaufoy is a well-observed piece about unemployed working class men whose dignity has been literally stripped away by an economic downturn and their own insecurities, and while it's not without its dark moments, like many great comedies the humor comes from an achingly real situation that the characters are faced with. It never becomes bleak, because even the darker moments are played as black comedy. It's funny while touching on some very serious issues. Peter Cattaneo's subtle direction captures the lives of the characters and their situation with a compelling yet naturalistic approach, wisely avoiding making the comedy so exaggerated that you feel no real connection to the characters beyond laughing at them. This film makes you care about them, too.
Cinematographer John de Borman (Photographing Fairies, Hideous Kinky) uses soft, flat lighting to convey the mood of a depressed industrial town, while the combination of an Oscar-winning score by Anne Dudley (The Crying Game) and pop songs form a sly soundscape that perfectly accents the humor.
Carlyle is outstanding as Gaz. For all of his character's joking and laddish behavior, you can tell that he cares deeply about his son, his best friend, and eventually even the new friends he makes. Addy is equally good as Dave, whose lighthearted demeanor masks a deep-seated insecurity. Wilkinson's Gerald is believable when he can't bear to tell his wife that he's unemployed and goes to great lengths to conceal it from her. The rest of the cast is good, too, with Steve Huison as the closeted gay former security guard Lomper, Paul Barber as an older man called Horse who has lots of dance moves, Hugo Speer as Guy (who's selected for the troupe because he's well-endowed), and William Snape as Gaz's son Nathan, who goes from merely tolerating being with his father to encouraging him.
The Fully Exposed Edition DVD features a crisp video transfer, although the print used for the transfer shows some minor scratches and dirt at times. It offers multiple audio options, including the original English audio track. When it was released in the US in 1997, the original actors redubbed their lines with weaker accents so US audiences could understand them. I watched it with the original audio track and had no difficulty understanding the dialog. There are also interviews with the cast, plus commentary by Addy and Cattaneo. The second DVD offers numerous 'making of' featurettes which are informative and shed much light on the film.
The Full Monty won the BAFTA's Best Film Award and was also nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. The Fully Exposed Edition reveals that the film has aged very well and is still a brilliantly funny film with great heart. Highly recommended.
[4.5 stars out of 5]
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