“A few more years, and men won't exist,” mourns one of the unemployed workers in “The Full Monty.” Sheffield was once a thriving British manufacturing town, known for its steel, but now its mills are closed and the men hang about all day in the gloomy job center, where there are no jobs to be found. Their remaining functions in life seem limited to drinking as much as possible, getting into mischief, and avoiding child support payments they can't afford.
From this grim working-class prospect, “The Full Monty” creates a lovable comedy, as the men decide to go where the work is. The Chippendale Dancers have recently entertained a full house at a local club, including most of the wives, mothers, daughters, sisters and girlfriends of the unemployed workers. If the Chippendales can make hundreds or thousands of pounds by stripping down to their Speedos, why can't some local blokes make a few quid by going all the way--”the full monty”? They're led by Gaz, a determined, inventive man played by Robert Carlyle (he was the alarming Begbie in “Trainspotting”). For dance lessons, they turn in desperation to their former foreman, Gerald (Tom Wilkinson). He's always lorded it over them, but is now reduced to haunting the jobs center and trying to keep it a secret from his wife that he's out of work: He's too proud to tell her. One of the movie's best scenes is when he lets down his guard and confesses his financial desperation.