The Full Monty Reviews

"When the going gets tough, the tough get go-going."

Well what can I say about The Full Monty? Simply this; it is one of those films that made me laugh and cry sometimes at the same time, and more importantly it made me proud to be British. The Full Monty is just a wonderful film, engaging, funny and genuinely poignant in places.

The humour is often side-splitting, and the film is filled to the brim with many wonderful moments, the part when the "would-be Chippendales of the North" absent-mindedly gyrating to the radio in a dole queue was particularly inspired. And of course the dirty dancing antics. While it is very funny, it was poignant too. The Full Monty is a film about men's emotional short-comings, and these were explored in an engaging and profoundly touching way.

The script does have some hilarious moments, often verging on hysterical at times, but it never fails to be touching as well. Peter Cattaneo's direction is another plus, it is relaxed and sensitive, never taking itself too seriously. And the story is very engaging and beautifully written. Visually, The Full Monty looks lovely, the opening scene especially was beautifully shot, and the cinematography was skillful. I even liked the music, You Sexy Thing, Make Me Smile, Rock & Roll, We are Family and the Full Monty all to name a few were really pleasant and entertaining.

And of course, the acting is brilliant, every single person gives an honest and appealing performance. Starting with Robert Carlyle as the divorced father trying to maintain joint custody of his son, he delivers a really strong and vulnerable performance that serves as the film's core. Mark Addy, Lesley Sharp, Tom Wilkinson and Hugo Speer give terrific support and manage to be really likable.

Overall, wonderful film, definitely worth seeing if you like movies that are both funny and touching. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I can't exactly say I was impressed by this film much, usually a film has its moments, but this film I do not think had any. So just quickly on the film, it is about a group of guys who meet in just very unrealistic ways, its the depression, people are losing their jobs etc. they need money and feel that they need to do something to get money fast. So, they form a male striptease group, which I can't really understand, I know that it's suppose to be comedy; which means it isn't to be taken seriously, but you need at least some stability in a film, no matter what it is. After that, more than half of the film is then about the men dancing trying to be 'sexy' and things like that I don't think are funny. Before I said 'unrealistic' ways of being acquainted, well I'll give you an example, pretty much somewhere at the start of the film, one of the men try to kill themselves, he's stopped from doing so, of course. Yet him nearly taking his own life never comes back into the film at all, everyone's just forgotten about it and would rather dance about nude. That's just silly and not in a good way.


Finally, I really did not find this film funny, I was bored in parts, I had no connection to anyone and anything. But if you find unattractive men dancing badly to typical 'sexy dance' music, then this film is very much for you.