For younger film fans – people who didn’t watch adult dramas about economic downturns and the emotional struggles of working-class men in the 1990s – it’s a bit difficult to explain the impact of the 1997s The full Monty. The British film, starring Trainspotting‘s Robert Carlyle and former actor Tom Wilkinson as unemployed steel mill workers who wanted to impress their community with a strip show was a huge worldwide hit. It was part of a wave of British import comedies that helped jump-start the market for international cinema in the days before streaming services casually imported films from around the world. Now, The full Monty gets a legacy TV series spin-off, reunites the original cast and follows the lives of the characters. Here’s why that matters.
The full Monty was the feel-good hit of 1997. The Oscar-winning dramedy turned a $3.5 million budget into a $250 million payday and became Britain’s highest-grossing blockbuster of all time. (Titanic replaced later.) Those who remember the movie will probably remember the self-effacing blue-collar humor, built around DIY determination and the portrayal of a group of unlucky people trying to regain their self-respect by doing something daring and playful . Or maybe they just remember the beautiful but subdued moment when those men, standing in line at the unemployment office, spontaneously bursts into a dance when “Hot Stuff” by Donna Summers plays on the radio.
But while The full Monty is a crowd-pleaser with a smashing ending (at that promised burlesque show, where the six main conspirators have pledged to “go all out” by stripping down completely), the film is also surprisingly dark and candid about the effects of economic downturn and unemployment . The men in the cast are all struggling financially. One tries to commit suicide. Another fights to support his son and keep his rights of access after a divorce. A third is evicted from his home. It is a wry film, full of banter and grim humour. But it’s also quite candid about the nagging, desperate feeling of being unemployed and uncertain about the future in a changing economy. That doesn’t sound particularly comical – but The full MontyThe special mix of realism, likable but frustrating characters and an unlikely form of elevation was part of the appeal.
The full Monty was ahead of its time in many ways: it’s a sex-positive film that took into account the fun and perspectives of women and explored toxic masculinity before there was a term for it. It portrays a gay relationship with approval and respect – minimal, but without ridicule or gay-panic gags, which was practically unheard of for mainstream comedy in 1997. It also finds its light in human connection, without becoming an unrealistic fantasy. The final moment – a high-pitched freeze frame – seems designed to acknowledge that a night of joyful self-recovery is a wonderful thing, but that it won’t quite solve most of the characters’ long-term problems.
Photo: FX
So going back to that story for a reunion 25 years later could be a bold way to pick up the thread that a movie couldn’t explore. It might seem like a cynical money grab, or an exhausting necessity in a world where every story ever told now counts as legacy IP and possibly nostalgia bait. (It can also be a really long shot: The full Monty was a hit, but even those who remember probably couldn’t name more than a few characters, or the actors who played them.)
But FX’s description of the show actually sounds like the people behind it — including the original screenwriter, Simon Beaufoy — want to use the movie as a starting point for an original and relevant story, something more invested in current events than copying a hit from Past. . Here’s the summary from FX:
Set 25 years after the original UK hit, the eight-episode series follows the same group of brothers as they navigate the post-industrial city of Sheffield and its crumbling healthcare, education and employment sectors. The comedic drama will reveal what happened to the gang after they donned their gear again and explore their brighter, crazier and more desperate moments. It will also highlight how the fiercely funny world of these working-class heroes – who still live in Sheffield – has changed in the intervening decades.
Writer, creator and executive producer Simon Beaufoy said: “It has been one of the greatest joys of my writing career to reunite this eccentric, irrepressible family of Sheffield men and women and watch 25 years, 7 Prime Ministers and 100 broken political promises have affected their lives.”
Returning from the original cast are Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy (who went on to play King Robert Baratheon in Game of Thrones), Lesley Sharp, Hugo Speer, Paul Barber, Steve Huison, Wim Sneep and Tom Wilkinson. The TV series The full Monty will premiere in June, premiere date TBD. The 1997 movie The Full Monty is streaming on HBO Max and is available for digital rental or purchase at AmazonVudu and other digital platforms.