Trainspotting

“Choose life…but why would I do a thing like that?”  In Trainspotting, Renton and his friends have instead chosen heroin.  It’s not glamorous, in fact it’s downright gritty, filled with hardship and heartache.  They lie, steal and screw people over for one more hit, that ever elusive euphoric moment of pure pleasure.  Renton is starting to understand he can’t carry on like that forever and slowly tries to change his life.  But that isn’t so easy when your only friends are still shooting up.

Renton (Ewan McGregor) is our main character, a skinny junkie in Edinburgh.  He narrates with his cocky, thick Scottish accent, to give us more insight to his decisions and feelings on drug use.  He shows us his friends: Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller) and Spud (Ewen Bremner) are fellow addicts.  Sick Boy is more of a leader while Spud is a sincerely lost guy, just sticking by his friends.  Tommy (Kevin McKidd) starts off as a clean cut guy who chooses working out over drugs, until his girlfriend dumps him.  And Bigbie (Robert Carlyle) gets off more on physical violence.  It’s amazing how he can carelessly instigating bar fights.

I didn’t expect this film to dabble in surrealism, but some of those moments were the most vivid and memorable.  They also help us to understand Renton’s mind under the influence.  As he fishes in a nasty toilet of his own fresh feces, we see him climb in and then swim around in crystal blue waters for what he’s looking for.  It emphasizes the importance and grandeur of looking for the drugs he just….expelled.  It’s a wonderfully gross, yet engrossing scene.

One of my favorite scenes is after Renton’s parents bring him home after an accidental overdose.  They lock him in his childhood bedroom to give him time to let the drugs wear off.  But this isn’t a simple cleanse, his mind runs wild with hallucinations fueled by his guilt: one of his friends rattling chains against his door, a baby crawling across the ceiling.  The whole scene is very intense and unsettling, making us understand Renton’s mental and physical anguish as he the drugs wear off his body.

The correlation between drugs and sex in the film is very interesting.  Characters regularly use one for the other to get their chosen highs.  For Renton, he goes between the two and he experiences the highs in very different ways.  Perhaps some of the characters, particularly Spud, whose girlfriend holds out for fun, choose drugs in place of sex.  One without the other seems to work for these guys for the most part.  Unfortunately, we see the grim results for those who mingle the two too closely for too long.

Trainspotting seems to be a very under-appreciated film.  At the Oscars, it was only nominated for adapted screenplay.  Yet, it is currently ranked at #146 on IMDB.  This film holds its own against the best picture nominees of 1996, and I can see it trading places with any of them.  All the acting is solid and believable and Danny Boyle’s direction holds such a vibrant energy, like smack running through fresh veins.

Trainspotting may not be for everyone.  We watch these guys do some hard drugs, nearly waste away into their high energy lifestyle and see some disturbing images that could make the most far gone sober up immediately.  For a film fan, it is one to seek out.  It’s considered one of the best British films, and I believe it is very accessible for most Americans.  This film helped project both Boyle and McGregor into star status.  The quick editing, high energy actors, lively sets all just add up to an unforgettable film experience.

“This was to be my final hit, but let’s be clear about this.  There’s final hits and final hits.  What kind was this to be?”

Room at the Top

In Room at the Top, Joe (Laurence Harvey) is a young, headstrong accountant who has just found a job in a small town.  With the help of a friend, he gets joins a theater club to meet young and beautiful Susan (Heather Sears).  While Joe attempts to woo her, he becomes closer to an older woman, Alice (Simone Signoret).  Very soon, Joe experiences the struggles and strife of being with two women and ends up with tragic consequences.

Susan is a not only an innocent beauty, but a high class girl.  Her father owns a factory, and once Joe is in her family’s radar, he is seen as a threat.  You see, Joe comes from a town that is now largely piles of rubble from the war and is considered lower class.  Joe pursues Susan, partially for a possible future of gaining higher class status, but also just for lustful kicks.  But a clean cut girl like Susan is hard to get to, especially with such protective parents, and in the end will she even be what Joe really wants?

Then there is Alice, a friend Joe never meant to fall in love with.  While Susan is a wide-eyed girl, Alice is a strong, seasoned and careful woman.  She is ten years older than Joe and skeptical, (not so much of his intentions, she seems comfortable with casual sex) but of getting too serious.  Alice is a much more interesting and likeable woman than Susan.  She is smarter, more cultured with a lifetime more of experiences than girlish Susan.  Even better, she is a surprisingly modern feminist, seeing herself and her body as more than a plaything for Joe.  I did not expect these bold conversations from a film from 1959.  When Alice finally does fall completely and trust Joe, she falls hard, and losing him would tear her apart.

A film with so much lust, adultery and the idea of sex being an enjoyable act landed Room at the Top with an X rating by the ABC.  It was so racy for 1959 that film distributors were afraid to touch the film.  However, once it was released, it proved to be a big hit, both critically and financially, and ushered in a new age of adult themes in film.

At the Oscars Room at the Top was nominated for six awards, including Best Picture.  Jack Clayton was nominated for best director, Harvey for best actor and Hermione Baddeley was nominated for best supporting actress for only being in a couple short scenes, but making quite an impact.  The film won the award for best adapted screenplay and Signoret won the Oscar for lead actress.  The way she can put up walls and let them fall and become so vulnerable earned her that Oscar.

Readers, I am so happy to have finally seen Room at the Top.  It was worth the wait and such a surprise.  The acting is superb all around and the story is juicy, enticing and pulls you in so well that you end up just as crushed at the end.  This film is an amazing ride, and i really wish it was more widely available.  I got it off Amazon UK as a second hand DVD, the only one I could find.

“I own my own body and I’m not ashamed of it.”

The Pirates! Band of Misfits

Of all the animated features in the past year, The Pirates! Band of Misfits was one that was the least visible on my radar.  From Aardman Animation, the British film studio that created Wallace and Grommit, I vaguely remember The Pirates! being in theaters.  With my love of animation and all things pirate related, I told my husband that we should go see it, but I must have gotten distracted.  It was out of the theaters sooner than I realized.  What a gem I had missed!

Based on the book series by Gideon Defoe, The Pirates! Band of Misfits is about The Pirate Captain (voice of Hugh Grant) and his crew’s adventures as he tries to win the award for Pirate of the Year.  Captain’s chances seem pretty slim, not just because he has lost for about twenty years.  The other candidates are much more ruthless, have a lot more booty, and they all make quite an entrance.  In Captain’s quest for award winning booty, he and his crew storm ship after ship, but always come up empty handed.

Here’s where most summaries and trailers you’ll find end and some unexpected fun begins.  Captain and his crew come across The Beagle, complete with a young Charles Darwin (David Tennant) on board.  When Darwin informs Captain that his beloved parrot, Polly, is actually a dodo bird, thought to be extinct, the chance to win a prize for scientific discovery entices Captain enough to risk going to London, where Queen Victoria has an intense hatred for pirates.  Between Captain wanting the prize for the booty and Darwin wanting the prize to impress Queen Victoria, poor Polly’s fate may be in jeopardy.  And Captain may lose focus on what it really means to be a pirate.

I know some may be thinking that pirate movies have been overdone, thanks to all those Pirates of the Caribbean films.  Sure, we get goofy pirate jokes, but there is so much more than that.  The action is more than sword fights and cannon balls.  The vocabulary is much more broad than ‘arrgh’ and ‘savvy’.  A lot of fun comes out of being a pirate, but it’s not the only key the film can play in.

I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I was laughing nearly every minute of this film.  There are so many fun little gags throughout the film, from quick evolution jokes that leave Darwin confused, to funny things to catch in the background.   In fact, I watched the film a second time and was surprised by how many jokes I missed on my first viewing.  The entire tone of the film is perfectly goofy, delightfully fun and has an unexpected heart of gold.  The characters, though their names are mostly descriptions (Albino Pirate, Pirate With Gout, Surprisingly Curvaceous Pirate), are full of lighthearted whimsy and each brings more fun to the table. Best of all, I’d say nearly all these laughs are kid friendly, but effortlessly hook adults too.

Some of my favorite gags happen during the map sequences.  In a quick transition we get fun tid-bits of the pirates’ journey, without an unnecessary scene, complete with upbeat music.  It seems that the little dots appear on the map behind them because they set out little dots on the sea.  The decorative mermaids, Poseidon and cherubs interact with the ship and toss them along the sea/paper.  At one point they hide behind a letter to avoid a British fleet.  They even stop at a duty free store just before hitting London!

I thought I had this Oscar race picked easily for the best animated feature.  Honestly, I enjoyed The Pirates! more than any other animated film this year and it completely deserves its Oscar nomination.  The more I think about, the more I love it.  Thing is, The Academy isn’t always kind to stop-motion animation, or goofy stories, no matter how big its heart is.  But right now, I don’t care what they think, I love The Pirates! Band of Misfits, desperately want it in my blu-ray collection and I highly recommend it for everyone, even if you don’t believe in evolution.

“The best thing about being a pirate is ham night!”

The Lion in Winter

I watched A Lion in Winter with my mom and sister, while I spent a little time at home.  Supportive of my blogging mission, they were excited to watch a best picture nomination with me.  Shortly into the film, they both had their questions and comments.  “Which Henry is he again?  John looks like such a slob.  Is that Katharine Hepburn?”  I always enjoy a little banter while watching these films.  However, about an hour into the movie, mom had fallen asleep and my sister spent most of the time looking at her phone.  I warned them that A Lion in Winter may not be their taste in movies, but I think they were curious as to what a “British costume drama” actually was.

After the film ended and my mom woke up, I gave her the gist of what happened.  I could tell they both lost interest because of the historical time period, rather than the dramatic family based plot.  King Henry II (Peter O’Toole) has allowed his wife, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (Katharine Hepburn) to leave the Tower of London over the winter holiday so they may all visit with their three sons, who all want to be named successor to the throne.  Henry also has his mistress, Alais (Jane Merrow) around, whom he wants to marry, and her brother, King Philip of France (Timothy Dalton), who starts to make deals with each of the possible future kings behind Henry’s back.

The pull over which brother will be named the future king of England is the main source of family tension.  Richard (Anthony Hopkins in his debut role) is the strongest and most handsome of the brothers, but has a quiet and meek side as well.  While Eleanor is pushing for Richard, Henry would rather give the throne to the youngest son, John (Nigel Terry).  Just by his appearance we see what a mistake this would be, John is a messy-haired slob who can’t stand up straight.  Plus, he just whines and expects the throne because daddy promised it to him.  Then there is poor Geoffrey (John Castle), the crafty but forgotten middle son who just is not satisfied with being a duke.

The character chemistry is what works best in this film.  With Eleanor trying to manipulate Richard with guilt, Geoffrey trying to lead John, and all three sons scheming with Philip, all these alliances flow and intertwine flawlessly.  Best of all are the scenes between Henry and Eleanor.  O’Toole and Hepburn make their characters interact with the most fluid mix of love and loathing that makes this film a shear joy to watch.  At one point, I made some natural chuckle of delight watching these two in an argument, to which my sister looked up and asked what was so funny.

When I asked my sister what she thought about the movie, she said, “It was good, but all they did was talk.”  For your casual, twenty-first century movie goer who generally doesn’t watch movies more than twenty years old, that seems like a normal reaction.  No harm, no foul.  Yes, most of the action comes in the form of dialogue and long eloquent speeches, but they’re so telling and beautifully delivered. The part that made me smile though, is that my sister did recognize that it was good.  There’s no hiding that.  And Katharine Hepburn simply should not have shared that Oscar, it was all hers.

“I could peel you like a pear, and God, himself, would call it justice.”

An Education

In today’s society, we are conditioned to assume that any adult man offering a ride to a teenage girl is a predator.  In An Education, it seems Jenny (Carey Mulligan) is not completely blind to those precautions when she is approached by David (Peter Sarsgaard) in his sports car.  He explains that, as a music lover, he just wants to make sure her cello does not get damaged in the pouring rain, so he offers a ride for the instrument, trading cash as insurance, while she walks beside the car.  Smooth.  After less than a block of intelligent conversation about classical music, Jenny decides to get in the car and arrives safely at home minutes later.  With that safe arrival comes a bond of trust, which can mean everything to a teenage girl.  And when David just happens to run into Jenny again with an invitation to a classical concert, how can a girl say no?

The film is an adaptation of Lynn Barber’s memoir of the same name where she details her teenage love affair with a much older man.  To really believe that David and Jenny will have some happily ever after is completely naive.  This is not a cheap vampire fantasy.  Yet, the film is so good at making this happy ending look tempting.  David actually likes being with Jenny.  He has a charm that makes us believe all his actions, including some self control.  That only makes Jenny feel safer and let him go further.

Since Jenny is only sixteen, surely her parents could intervene and stop this relationship.  Thing is, though they only have love and hope for their daughter, the parents are completely naive and unworldly.  When they meet David, he puts on the charm, looks like a real gentleman and seems to only have decent, platonic intentions with their daughter.  Within the first minutes of meeting them, David actually gets an extension on Jenny’s curfew.  Surely he can talk dear old dad into letting him take Jenny to Paris.

As we watch this relationship continue, we can’t always do the tsk-tsk at Jenny.  She is using David almost as much as he is using her.  How else is a middle-class teenage girl going to get into these concerts, fine restaurants and see the a more cultured world.  The boys her age are a bore and can barely make conversation over cheap coffee.

What is most detrimental to Jenny is the prospect that she can just marry David and forget about going to Oxford.  The way she sees it, with prospects of a man to take her to all the high culture things she’d have to work for, what’s the point of school?  Jenny only sees old, sad looking, unglamourous women who have received higher education, and what girl wants to end up like her tight-laced school teacher?  Her parents are no help in this idea either, expressing financial relief to the idea of marriage instead of college.  But what’s the cost of putting security in her future with David rather than pursuing an education?

This is one of those films that all young women should see.  I try not to be too cynical, but rather than continue the asinine fantasy of Team Edward, we need to realize that if a man seems too good to be true, do not pursue.  But if you do, as many girls have and will continue to do, appreciate the valuable education.

“You’re my father again now, are you?  And what were you when you encouraged me to throw my life away?  Silly schoolgirls are always getting seduced by glamorous older men, but what about you two?”

Secrets and Lies

On the surface, Secrets and Lies tells the story of a young woman, Hortence (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) seeking out her biological mother, Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn).  As we look deeper into the film, we see how unhappy and alone each member of Cynthia’s family is.  Her crass, foul-mouthed daughter, Roxanne (Clair Rushbrook), works as a sidewalk sweep and always seems miserable.  Cynthia’s house reflects her and Roxanne’s low working class status.  Her brother, Maurice (Timothy Spall), is a photographer and provides well for his wife Monica (Phyllis Logan), but he doesn’t keep in good contact with Cynthia.  It’s only after Hortence and Cynthia start a friendly relationship, (perhaps the most open, honestly positive relationship Cynthia has ever had) that tensions rise and secrets are revealed.

British director Mike Leigh is one of the most anti-Hollywood filmmakers I’ve ever heard of.  He didn’t begin the film with a written script.  He didn’t let Brenda Blethyn and Marianne Jean-Baptiste meet before filming.  In fact, most of the film’s dialogue is improvised.  It’s so well done that Blethyn and Jean-Baptiste were nominated for acting Oscars.  This amazingly dramatic film gels solidly into an engaging story.  These unorthodox methods is what gives the whole film has an odd and naturally real feel about it.

In many scenes in the film, it feels like we’re eavesdropping.  We hear the conversation, see the characters, yet the topic stays between just the two for a while.  They are in the know, but the fact that the topic has not been blatantly revealed makes us listen more intently and attempt to read between the lines.  The scene where Hortence is initially seeking information about her birth mother kept me searching for clues the most.  I found myself trying to draw conclusions from the posters on the walls and when the topic was finally dropped, I was released from my search, very much relieved.

What we are shown of Maurice’s photography profession is fascinating.  Multiple times, we are shown his clients just before the shot.  A newly engaged couple fights, a little boy picks his nose, business men impatiently check their watches, a bride cries.  Maurice’s job is to capture the moments that look like everything about these people is perfect.  What’s amazing is that his wife Monica is trying to make her life picture perfect in real time.  She shows off their nice house, with new carpets and a new car just trying to keep up appearances, while she and Maurice hide a devastating secret.

While I was captivated and stirred by this film, many viewers may not be.  It’s very quiet film and the most telling moments are not within the conversations, but within the moments of deafening silence.  There’s also the topic of race, I purposely waited until now to tell you that Hortence is black while the rest of Cynthia’s family is white.  I believe Leigh handles that subject perfectly, but I feel that many viewers will want to read too much into it.  If you want to tackle a very dramatic, unorthodox, quiet British film, I completely recommend Secrets and Lies.

“There, I said it, so where’s the bolt of lightning?”

The Dresser

While seeing a live theatrical performance, a story that has been told thousands of times over again is what you see, but what is happening behind the stage?  Are there squabbles, tensions, people on their last nerve just inside the curtain?  Sometimes the fresh human story about the production you’re seeing is not on stage.

Sir (Albert Finney) is the aging leader of a traveling Shakespearean theater troupe during WWII.  Norman (Tom Courtenay) is his dresser.  While Sir is the face on stage and hold the ultimate power within the troupe (proven when he simply commands a train to stop), it is Norman who enables him.  Sir is at the center of Norman’s universe and he has sacrificed his better years to getting Sir ready for the stage.  But the stage is what creates Sir’s massive ego and he takes Norman for granted.

Hours before a performance of King Lear, Sir has a raging, ranting drunken fit in a marketplace.  Norman takes him backstage to his dressing room to nurse Sir back to health where he sings while making tea, gives him pep talks, brandy and makes sure no one sees Sir until he’s fully recovered and in makeup.  The energy Norman pours into Sir is astounding; while Sir is a half conscious mass man way past his prime, Norman is running around backstage reassuring the rest of the troupe that the show will go on.  If Norman was any less attentive to Sir, there’s no way he could have gone on that night.

These scenes with Norman preparing Sir are also wildly hilarious at times.  I had to pause the film to stop laughing after Norman finds Sir putting on the wrong makeup for the night.  When Sir is trying to remember the first line of the play, he starts reciting lines from all different plays.  And the way Norman deals with all this is like he’s helping a toddler who is on the verge of a huge mess.  His character is so exuberant and lively that he is just funny to watch.  I mean that in the dearest of ways, Sir is only lit up on stage, but Norman is on all the time.

The tensions on whether the show will go on are not just within Sir and Norman, but all around the theater.  It is WWII and just before the curtain is to rise, the air raid sirens start to howl.  Earlier in the film, there was a theater reduced to rubble.  We can only wonder if all Norman’s work to get Sir ready will be blown to pieces in the blitz.

One of my favorite moments in the film is the storm scene in the play.  While Sir is on stage, reciting his lines into the fury of the storm, backstage Norman and the troupe are creating the storm.  They bang kettle drums, create rain and thunder with props but Sir wants more, louder.  Soon they’re beating the hell out of those drums, creating so much noise no one would even notice a bomb hitting the theater.  When the scene is over, the backstage hands are out of breath and seem to be riding the high of the storm, but Sir yells at them, “Where was the storm?!”  Such a wonderful moment, it seems he’s never satisfied.

While on the surface of this film is the worry over the play and hilarious humor, the story is of a simple human relationship.  Norman believes he is the center of the troupe, always making sure Sir is ready and pouring his whole self into his work, but in the end Sir cannot be bothered by Norman’s little cry for gratitude.  It’s an amazing moment to see someone realize how little they are appreciated and in that final scene Tom Courtenay is simply astounding, in my mind, worth of Best Actor.

I promise I haven’t given too much away.  This is one of those films I could tell you all about, but the experience of seeing it is what really matters.  If you love theater, Shakespeare or not I completely recommend The Dresser.  By huge margins, I have picked this film as Best Picture for 1983.  Huge margins.

“227 Lears… and I can’t remember the first line.”

The Private Life of Henry VIII

When I pick up a film from the early thirties with a long ridged title like The Private Life of Henry VIII, I have my doubts.  Honestly, I expected some dry, very historical account of Henry’s life with a stuffy British narration.  I could not have been more wrong.

The first clue to how this film will play out is in the opening text explaining that Henry’s first wife is of “no particular interest.  She was an honorable woman, so he divorced her.”  Then the film starts just before Anne Boleyn’s execution.  While Anne (Merle Oberon) is enjoying her neck while she can, Henry (Charles Laughton) and his whole royal staff is getting ready for his wedding to Jane Seymour (Wendy Barrie).  She dies in childbirth, but thankfully produces a son.  Soon, the whole kingdom is saying that Henry should marry again.

During a dinner scene, we see the classic Henry VIII everyone would love to play.  He’s on his throne, a huge turkey in front of him just tearing it apart and rambling with his mouth full.  “There’s no delicacy nowadays. No consideration for others. Refinement’s a thing of the past! Manners are dead!”  And he proceeds to burp and toss the bones behind him casually.  When the topic of remarrying comes up at dinner he starts to bellow, “What am I, a breeding bull?”

He then goes on to marry Anne of Cleaves (played by Laughton’s wife Elsa Lanchester).  This short marriage is one of the funniest moments in the film.  Before the marriage, Henry doesn’t even want to marry this dopey girl, but if he sent her back to Germany they would be outraged.  Just before he enters the chamber for his wedding night he sighs, “The things I’ve done for England.”  Even better, Anne of Cleaves is completely oblivious to wedding night activities.  “That story about children being found under gooseberry bushes isn’t true,” Henry tells her.  The scene only gets better.

Seeing that this was the first non-US film to be nominated for Best Picture, this could have been one of the first looks the world had at British comedy.  Some of the jokes are hysterical and feel nearly Monty Python inspired.  When peasants are gathering for the execution a man asks, “Do you mind taking off your hat, we can’t see the block.”  Later, in a bit of dialogue a British man tells the French executioner, “Enough British executioners are out of work as it is.”  And when Henry is trying to sneak up to Cathrine Parr’s bed chamber every guard he passes loudly announces him.

I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed this film.  It’s a great mix of history, biography and keeps fluid and personable with a great amount of comedy.  The characters feel like a great ensemble around Laughton and he executes his Henry perfectly and earned that Best Actor award.  If you want a fun brush-up on Henry VIII or want to see some early British comedy, I would suggest this film.

The Full Monty

My husband did not want to watch The Full Monty with me.  I think he imagined it to be filled with naked men running around shaking their goods with a British accent.  He watched the entire film with me and hardly had a fit, but he won’t admit to liking it yet.  Believe me, if he didn’t like it, he would have left and played video games, no problem; but he did stay till the very end, which makes a stronger recommendation for men than I could make by myself.

There’s so much more at stake here than just the taboos of male stripping.  The mill that used to be the main job source in town is closed and none of the men can find jobs.  They spend their time in a sad little jobs center, stealing scrap metal and drinking.  With all the women able to work and support themselves, their male counterparts feel inferior and to add insult to injury, a one night strip act excites the ladies more than their men.  The whole idea to become strippers came from Gaz (Robert Carlyle) who wants to start stripping so he can pay for custody of his son, Nathan (William Snape) who’s alongside the men for support and working the boombox.  His friend Dave (Mark Addy) is hesitant due to his pudginess and their lack of any dance skills.  When they find out their old boss Gerald (Tom Wilkinson) is taking ballroom dancing with his wife, they recruit him to learn some moves.  Gerald is desperate for money since he’s been out of work six months and hasn’t told his wife yet.  So the three men plus little Nathan learn to dance, recruit three more dance members and become the talk of the town.

The way The Full Monty flips the gender roles is wonderful.  Society is accustomed to women being desperate enough to strip, not men, certainly not this bunch.  These men are pale, skinny, old and fat.  One can pass for the typical male stripper, but he makes his pals look worse.  In a scene where the guys glance through a nudy magazine, they pass their judgments, “Her boobs could be smaller.”  Dave makes the haunting revelation that women will be passing the same judgments on them.  Suddenly, Horse (Paul Barber), the graying black guy, is frantically calling the company who produces an enhancement device, frantic that it isn’t working.

The member who is most self conscious is Dave.  From the beginning he knows he’s the fattest member of the group and immediately classifies himself as hopeless.  It gets so bad for him that he drops out of the group and can’t even find enough spunk in himself to be intimate with his girlfriend, who’s never said a negative word about him.  He’s told, “Fat, David, is a feminist issue.”  Clearly not.  The negative self body image isn’t just a woman’s problem, and that’s one of the best things about this film.  Even better, is when the ladies love Dave’s full body and he’s ballsy enough to strut his stuff.

The Full Monty is fun, hilarious, uplifting and a great time.  The material could have easily turned into a pointless sex romp, but the desperation of the situation gives the story a well rounded body.  If you can stand the adult themes and seeing a few guys butts I recommend this.  Really, in half the time of Titanic you will have twice the fun and triple the laughs.

“No one said anything to me about the full monty!”