TV Review: 'Full Monty' Misses Film's Uplifting Message
LOS ANGELES, June 6 (UPI) -- Tam Monty is a feel-good movie about a middle-aged man who overcomes financial difficulties with a wild strip show. FX got a sequel to the economic mess, not the stripper anymore.
The series, which premiered on Hulu on June 14, offers an honest look at today's reality, but it also has a sad side. If there's anything as exciting as a dance performance, it's not in the first four episodes of the eight-part series.
25 years later, Gaz (Robert Carlyle) is still busy choosing mattresses and making other plans. Dave (Mark Addy) is a janitor at the school where his wife Jean (Lesley Sharp) is the principal.
Lomper (Steve Hulson) now works in her husband Dennis's (Paul Clayton) dining room, where retired Gerald (Tom Wilkinson) always sits at the booth. Now confined to a wheelchair due to diabetes, Kali (Paul Barber) struggles to keep her disability pension.
Some things have changed. Gazi has a daughter studying in high school, another child and a grandchild. Even Gazi's nephew is in a wheelchair and needs batteries which he cannot afford.
Creators Simon Beaufoy and Alice Nutter, who are the authors of the film, have announced their intentions. After the synopsis of the film, a montage introduces seven prime ministers who have failed to deliver on their promises to workers since 1997.
The problems faced by boys are legitimate. It just makes the show a soapbox without the wild hooks of middle-aged strippers.
The horse handicap meeting is in a distant town. Transportation is not provided and you will forfeit your winnings if you miss a session. It is as if the system is set up to deny people the benefits they are entitled to.
Several characters experience tragedy between the film and the show. Gaz finds an artist in a mental hospital. Again, this is a valid description of mental health care, or the lack of it, but it's very crude.
Jean's school faces budget cuts, forcing her to lay off teachers, while Dave tutors a bullied kid.
The young character even encounters a family next door seeking political asylum. It's another valuable part of the bigger picture of contemporary British and European life, while also adding drama.
The gang commits a few petty crimes every week, but they don't like to laugh out loud at any cartoon rehearsal. They only reinforce how sad the characters are about mushrooms or pigeon breeding.
Each episode has a few moments of joy, play, or song, but even in eight episodes, there are few of them.
The point of the film is not that poaching them will solve all their problems. It was just a moment of power and happiness.
The series "Full Monty" can well reflect the reality of a world where there are so many other issues that no moment of the film can distract. It's okay to see a beloved character suffer, but it's also incredibly sad.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012, and a member of the Critics' Choice Association since 2023. Read more about his work in the entertainment industry.
