By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2 cats
Director: Stephen Soderbergh
Starring: Alex Pettyfer | Channing Tatum | Joe Manganiello | Matthew McConaughey | Olivia Munn | Reid Carolin
Country: united_states
Year: 2012
Running time: 110
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1915581/
Bruce says: “If you have ever seen Channing Tatum on a talk show, you know that he is very open about his former career as a male stripper. Steven Soderbergh has his own mission of bringing more stories to the screen about the average Americans we rarely see portrayed, e.g., his BUBBLE featured workers in a doll factory in a depressed Ohio town. MAGIC MIKE presumably is part of that notion. What seems like a perfect match turns out to be less than perfect on screen largely due to a script that is woefully lacking in its dialogue and plot. On the other hand, MAGIC MIKE is very successful in creating atmosphere and in portraying the upside of the strippers’ world. One high point is a party that a sorority throws, hiring the guys from the strip club as entertainment. The strippers arrive disguised as cops.
“Dallas (Matthew McConaughey) is the organizer of a male strip show. He is small potatoes in Tampa but has dreams of taking the show to Miami. The show’s star performer is Magic Mike (Channing Tatum), a big hunk with a gorgeous body and a gentle soul. The job is accompanied by a lot of boozing and drugs, mostly after hours, with the many female patrons who like to get lucky. On the side, Mike designs furniture and hopes to start his own business. It’s a good life, except banks are loathe to lend money to clients who score below their credit threshold. One day Mike meets a kid named Adam (Alex Pettyfer) on a roof tiling
construction job. The kid and he become friends and before you know it, the kid goes on stage in place of a missing stripper. Raw and awkward at first, it doesn’t take Adam long to become proficient at the game. Adam lives with his sister Joanna (Olivia Munn) who is protective of her younger brother while battling relationship problems with her current boyfriend.
“My belief is that a good film can be made of almost any plot involving almost any subject; the trick is finding the proper way to tell the story in cinematic terms. It is almost impossible to imagine a film more predictable than MAGIC MIKE. The culprit here is not the subject matter. Every plot development is announced with red flags well in advance. MAGIC MIKE is hampered by dialogue that is trite and repetitive. It’s not that people in real life don’t talk that way; they often do – however such dialogue doesn’t lend itself to sustaining long-term interest on the part of the viewer. None of the other strippers have been given much, if any, backstory. The film could have been so much richer in texture if a small amount of effort had been made to flesh out their characters. Although he is handsome and very sexy, Alex Pettyfer’s acting skills are suspect. Vacuity has been portrayed more effectively by many other actors.
“On the brighter side, Channing Tatum has an amazing screen presence that could translate into future star power. He holds his own whether he is writhing magnificently on stage or in tender moments when love conquers all. Matthew McConaughey is fabulously sleazy in a let-it-all-out type of performance; he holds nothing back. His rock solid Dallas should win him some awards later in the year. In summary, MAGIC MIKE is a mixed bag. For the record, BUBBLE grossed a grand total of 145K at the box office; MAGIC MIKE is rapidly approaching the 100 million mark after three weeks. 3 cats”
Marilyn says: “Oh Bruce, you are too generous. This movie is terrible with the small exception of Tatum and I have seen him do better. I wasted enough time seeing this movie and will not do more in writing about it. 1 cat”
Hilary says: “Aw, c’mon, Marilyn, did you at least see it with a fun, engaged audience like I did? There appeared to be one man in the entire audience, and clearly he’d been dragged there by his wife. He agreed with you as he walked out muttering, ‘That was the worst movie ever!’
“Neither Tatum not Pettyfer does a thing for me, but I agree with Bruce: in all seriousness, this is the role McConaughey was born to play. His final performance was the icing on the cake…Magic Matthew! My only complaint was not enough Joe Manganiello.
“In between strip scenes it was indeed classic Soderbergh, all of his standard visual and dialogue signatures in play.”
Marilyn responds: “Oh yes…it was my choice for my Monday Night movie club who all hated it. On the other hand, the audience was giggling (yes, I said giggling), mostly young women so it might be an age thing but I don’t think so. It was awful and if this is the role Matthew was meant to play, that is really sad bc he could do it with his eyes closed and hung( no pun…)-over. I think they were afraid to take this where it needed to go to become a good movie. There is a dark edge in this business that they flirted with but had no guts to go to the edge. Enough naked butts for a lifetime!! Seen one….do I need to see ten
more?”
Bob says: “I just hope the theater workers of today aren’t as easily embarrassed as I was. I can remember running DIRTY DANCING when it was still pretty popular and getting cornered by countless women in their 70s and 80s who insisted on telling me in great detail just what they loved about Patrick Swayze’s ass.”