The movie The Full Monty was more like "The suggestion of a full monty". It was amazing when I watched this that a movie with the name "full monty" never really showed it. I guess our standards today are a little bit different. We can walk into a movie not expecting to see it as much as we do, for example, in the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall. They showed the full monty so many times in that movie that even most guys I know with a very high nudity tolerance couldn't take it. It is common place to see it. That is why it surprised me that this movie did not show its title.
Other than that, I was also a little bit surprised that such a funny idea could be turned into something sort of serious and sad. It wasn't laugh out loud funny for me. I mean the plot is really sad. It's this out of work dad who can't pay child support any more and is about to lose custody. It's about a chubby guy who doesn't think his wife loves him any more because he can't find a job either. It's about an old man who can't find a job before his wife figures out that he has been lying about being employed and all their things are taken away. There is a kid seeing stuff he probably shouldn't be seeing.
If this was supposed to be a comedy, why is it so heavy? Is it just an older style? I mean this movie was made before I think any of us in this class were born. When we saw Idiocracy, you didn't stop to think or feel sad. In this movie on the other hand, it was sort of unavoidable. Some theorists believe that comedy has a short shelf life (10-20 years for Grawe for instance). This could account for the difference. I don't really want to take this as a set rule however. I like to think that at least some comedy is universally funny. Some social situations (for example gender jokes) never really change. The problem is however that I cannot think of a really old comedy that I laughed at. I guess if I had to use an example, I would use the play A Midsummer Night's Dream, not as a whole, but the part with Bottom and crew, but that was mostly only funny once I actually saw a performance and had some idea how this scene might have been acted out. Even then however, the scene is an interpretation by modern people of what it might have been like, which might qualify it as comedy made in the last 10-20 years.
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I would suggest that _The Full Monty_ is a comedy for two reasons, first because it is a humorous response for a man being confronted with joblessness to turn to taking off clothing. (It would not be humorous if a woman faced with joblessness takes off her clothes...because it happens all the time. But that is a different topic.) That response points to the incongruity of the solution. Second is Grawe's definition of comedy as human survival - these fellows are attempting to survive their hopeless condition. That being said, I completely agree with you - the movie is much more sad that it is comedic. But so is _Modern Times_.
ReplyDeleteAnd as someone who loves old comedies, please forgive me for suggesting a few good ones to you: _Bringing Up Baby_ (Baby in this movie is a leopard) with Kathrine Hepburn and _Gentlemen Prefer Blondes_ with Marylin Monroe. I know what others think of Monroe, but I think she is pretty damn funny. I just watched the _Seven Year Itch_ this past week and I was impressed again. But it really isn't that hard to make me laugh.
Your point about "the suggestion of the full monty" is well taken. I agree; the film was a bit of a tease (unlike _Sarah Marshall_). At the same time, the "tease" might actually make the film funnier. We, as viewers, are allowed to fill in the gaps of what happens after the men fail to "leave [...their] hat on." Actually seeing if the men's anxiety regarding their lower regions was realized or not might ruin the fun?
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