The Full Monty (1997) - 78%
Set against the backdrop of a dreary Sheffield suffering the effects of a recession comes The Full Monty – South Yorkshire’s answer to Saturday Night Fever. You know the set-up: led by Robert Carlyle, a group of factory workers-cum-dole scroungers put together a strip show for the local women to raise a bit of cash; and along the way find friendship, strength and redemption. It’s a comedy at its core and has more knockabout laughs than your average gritty drama, but shows heart and convincingly captures the camaraderie to be found in a post-industrial northern city.
Although not necessarily a coming-of-age tale in the traditional sense, their plight and ambitious solutions have the same eventual impact. Whether it’s child support, friendship or self-esteem they’re after, it’s all really about being in a crummy situation and struggling to find a way out. This is very much the common template for such a film, and a Sheffield on the decline after the collapse of much of its steel manufacture is the ideal setting.
In many ways The Full Monty is the quintessentially English coming-of-age film where Gervais-Merchant’s Cemetery Junction borrowed more from the American tradition of beautiful young heroes. Here, our heroes are neither young nor beautiful; they’re lucky to get a job working security at Asda and their success is far from inevitable. But we love them all the more for it, and as a film has important things to say about body-image along the way.
When Robert Carlyle is at his charismatic best, you know you’re in for a treat and this is no exception
78%
