An excellent comedy, with intelligent and creative humor.
This is an interesting comedy that shows that British cinema sometimes surprises with small gems of quality. I don't know exactly how the film was received in its country of origin (it was a time when the British were in shock due to the death of Diana Spencer, ex-wife of the current King Charles III), but, in my country, the film received little attention due to the film “Titanic”, a box office phenomenon. Still, as far as I know, the film was profitable overall, and was well reviewed by critics. At the 1998 Oscars, it was nominated for four awards, but only won Best Soundtrack for a Comedy or Musical, a category that only existed for a few years.
The story takes place in Sheffield, a British city famous for its steel industry, but which was greatly affected by the economic recession and the closure of many factories, similar to what happened in Detroit with the automobile industry and in Matosinhos, in my country, with canning factories. To try to earn money, six men join forces to become a group of male strippers. They have to overcome their own prejudices and then public ridicule, when everything becomes known. The film has lots of moments of intelligent, well-constructed humor, and the dialogue is quality. Contrary to what some professional critics said at the time, I thought the use of slang and specifically British words was good, as it added authenticity to the dialogue. There are also some touching moments of understanding and mutual help.
The film was very well directed by Peter Cattaneo, and was edited effectively, with a sense of rhythm that allows the film to be engaging and entertaining without wasting time or dispersing into subplots that would lead to nothing. On a technical level, the film has a good set of sets and the filming locations were very well selected, but what deserves the most attention, in my opinion, is the soundtrack, which is virtually a beautiful collection of memorable hits from the 70s. and 80s, including “You Sexy Thing”, “You Can Leave Your Hat On” and other well-known songs. This luxurious soundtrack was one of the aspects that I most enjoyed about the film.
Another strong point of the film is the general performance of the cast led by Robert Carlyle, a creative protagonist who gives us an inspired and spirited performance. Alongside him, we also have some great British actors such as Tom Wilkinson (in one of the best comic efforts of his career), Hugo Speer and Mark Addy. Each of them is truly good at what they do and have been given very competent material to work with.