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As a drama set in working class Yorkshire, Among Giants certainly has its antecedants: The Fully Monty, with which it shares a screenwriter, Sheffield and an interest in full male nudity (which in this film, we actually get to see!); Brassed Off, which also featured Pete Poselthwaite, a collection of emotional but never histrionic performances, and a slightly charicatured depiction of free market economics; and sitting above them all, the memory of Ken Loach's Kes. The film lacks Loach's realism, and the plot is full of holes. Against that, both Poselthwaite and Rachel Griffiths are superb, and it's shot with a great feel for landscape, both inside and outside the city. It's not perfect, and it lacks the Monty's cheap selling points, but in spite of that, it's done with real feeling and is arguably the better film.

I really don't understand why this film has received such generally negative reaction. I agree that it does bog down in a couple of places, and maybe some of the charactors could have been developed in a litte more detail, but Postelwaite and Griffiths are thoroughly engrossing.Also, the film is visually very interesting. Someone has a real eye for shot construction.After looking at the user ratings, I was expecting to be disappointed. I wasn't.

This is the type of movie that you don't want to trash, but you have to anyway. There is too much illogical behavior, too many dramatics, and not enough things to recommend. There was a beautiful scene in a watertower and some of the aerial shots are great, but unless you are a Pete Postlethwaite completist, I'd stay away.