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 training to become male exotic dancers, are waiting for their bi-weekly dole cheques. As the office radio begins playing Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff," the men begin swaying unconsciously to the beat, eventually easing into their bump-and-grind choreography for the song. It's a wonderful bit of comic film-making by director Peter Cattaneo, surprisin

Now I'm not saying it isn't worth several chuckles simply watching the out-of-shape mates muddle their way through their pirouettes and pelvic thrusts; incongruity is the mother of classic physical comedy. I'm willing to wager, however, that a Hollywoodized version of The Full Monty would miss the point entirely. In this hypothetical American Monty, the idea of six working-class blokes becoming strippers, none of them ideal physical specimens, would be treated as inherently hilarious. It would become a broad farce, with Chris Farley re-creating his "Saturday Night Live" sketch challenging Patrick Swayze for a spot in the Chippendales line-up. The Full Monty isn't an effective comedy because the stars are unattractive. It's an effective comedy because the characters _are_ attractive, because their dilemma is genu

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