’Full Monty’ dead funny, definitely worth the rental price

Video Review by Krista Benson

Unemployment is a problem. When people are down on their luck, they can turn to employment that they never would have considered. They become fast food peons, office gophers and … strippers?

That’s right, strippers — at least in the 1997 movie, “The Full Monty.” When six unemployed men in Scotland get desperate for money, they turn to this unlikely form of gainful employment. They figure that if the Chippendale’s dancers can make the kind of money they do in one night, it’s worth taking off their clothes for that much cash.

These aren’t your stereotypical strippers, either. With the exception of one man, none of the men have six packs and perfect, tanned skin. Some have pot bellies, some have chicken arms and some are about 80 years old.

That’s right — they’re fat, they’re skinny, they’re old, they’re scrawny … and they’re going to get naked.

That is, if they can learn how to dance. The six men thrown together out of desperation also have a mild problem with dancing — they don’t know how.

“The Full Monty” isn’t really about stripping, it’s about people doing what they have to do to make money to survive and finding love, friendship and fun in the process. The best thing about this movie is that the men aren’t Chippendale’s dancers, they’re “every-men.” We all know people that look like these guys, and the thought of them becoming “exotic dancers” adds to the underlying comedy of the film.

The actors, none of whom have reached any sort of fame or even recognition in the U.S., all do a stunning job as these men who are basically a testosterone-ized “Breakfast Club.”. They do a fine job of showing the differences between men, yet not making their eventual friendships the sort of corny “look, people really are all the same deep inside” paradise that made “The Breakfast Club” so annoyingly pretentious.

The only drawback to “The Full Monty”  is that it was a little hard to understand the Scottish accents (think of “Trainspotting,” but not as bad) which make you miss some of the quick humor.

The soundtrack more than makes up for any small problems that the film may have. Between ‘70s disco favorites and ’90s hits, the tempo of the film is very upbeat. After all, what else would a movie about strippers have? Enya?

“Full Monty” is a hilarious look at everyday men who are trying to take a new look at unemployment. Don’t — repeat, don’t — take this as advice for summer employment, but if things get bad enough, “The Full Monty” shows, there’s always an option to poverty.

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