Essay Database

THE FULL MONTY Starring: Robert Carlyle, Tom Wilkinson, Mark Addy, Steve Huison, Paul Barber, Hugo Speer. Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy. Director: Peter Cattaneo. Watching the most infectious comic moment in the British import The Full Monty -- a film rich with infectious comic moments -- can teach you a lot about what so many Hollywood comedies get so wrong. The scene is set in a Yorkshire unemployment office where the film's six protagonists, laid-off steelworkers in …

…Monty still treads dangerously close to pathos at times, clashing with the lads' growing enthusiasm for their new calling. The Full Monty may be a high-concept premise, but the execution is resolutely low-concept. That's a combination Hollywood is having a tough time putting together in its comedies. Comedy with ideas doesn't have to be leaden; comedy with big laughs doesn't have to be simple-minded. The Full Monty gives depth to dole-line disco...that's high comedy.