The Full Monty ***** (1997, Robert Carlyle, Tom Wilkinson, Mark Addy, Steve Huison, Paul Barber, Hugo Speer) – Classic Movie Review 325

The Full Monty stage version.

The Full Monty film version.

Full marks for director Peter Cattaneo’s hilarious, beautifully observed, deliciously warm-hearted 1997 British comedy film The Full Monty. It is an absolute delight from start to finish.

In the now famous story, a motley crew of six out-of-work Yorkshiremen steel workers decides to form a group of the unlikeliest male strippers to earn a bob or two and give the famous Chippendales troupe a good run for their money.

The acting, led by non-Yorkshireman Robert Carlyle (very different from his Begbie in Trainspotting, though alas he can’t quite disguise his Scots accent), is spot-on, and so, just for once in a British movie of the 90s, is the screenplay, written by Simon Beaufoy.

Tom Wilkinson, Mark Addy, Lesley Sharp, Emily Woof, Steve Huison, Paul Barber and Hugo Speer are also in the fine cast. It helped to propel Wilkinson to the top rank of star character actors. For his role as Gerald Cooper, he received the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

The working-class Sheffield atmosphere, and the social comment on the unemployed workers in desolate, despondent post-Thatcher 90s Britain, are economically and effectively sketched. They are there in the movie, but they are not over-stressed, and the accent is on the feel-good comedy. It’s a film everybody likes, most people love. It was a critical success and an unexpected international commercial hit, taking more than $250 million on a budget of only $3.5 million and becoming the then highest grossing film in the UK.

The lads get their kit off for the strip-show finale, though, sadly, it’s not the full monty.

Anne Dudley won an Oscar for best score, and the film was nominated for best picture, best original writing and best director.

For the record, the Monty sextet are of course Gaz (Robert Carlyle), Dave (Mark Addy), security guard Lomper (Steve Huison), Gerald (Tom Wilkinson), Horse (Paul Barber) and Guy (Hugo Speer). Well done, lads!

It was shot on location in and around Sheffield in April 1996, plus a couple of locations in Shirebrook, Derbyshire. Carlyle said: The Full Monty was a tough shoot. It really really was. Horrible.’

Channel 4 Films paid for the screenplay to be written but then declined to invest in the film. Fox Searchlight then financed it for £3 million.

A stage version followed in 2001, revived in 2013.

The cast are Robert Carlyle as Gary ‘Gaz’ Schofield, Mark Addy as Dave Horsfall, Tom Wilkinson as Gerald Arthur Cooper, Steve Huison as Lomper, Paul Barber as Barrington ‘Horse’ Mitchell, Hugo Speer as Guy, William Snape as Nathan Schofield, Lesley Sharp as Jean Horsfall, Emily Woof as Mandy, Deirdre Costello as Linda Cooper, Paul Butterworth as Barry, Dave Hill as Alan, Bruce Jones as Reg, Andrew Livingston as Terry, Vinny Dhillon as Sharon, and Kate Rutter as Dole Clerk.

Tom Wilkinson died suddenly at his home on 30 December 2023, at the age of 75.

Tom Wilkinson OBE (5 February 1948 – 30 December 2023) received many awards, including a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe and a Primetime Emmy Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, one for Best Actor for In the Bedroom (2001) and the other for Best Supporting Actor for Michael Clayton (2007).

© Derek Winnert 2013 Classic Movie Review 325

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com

The Full Monty stage version.

The stage version.