Magic Mike

The premise of Magic Mike (i.e. a story set in the world of male stripping) probably won’t have many men rushing to the cinema, but taken as a follow up to Steven Soderbergh’s last film (the abysmal Haywire), anything will do. Loosely based on Channing Tatum’s experience as a stripper in his younger days, Reid Carolin’s script follows Mike Lane (Tatum), roofer by day, stripper at a club by night and his attempts to escape the getting starkers lifestyle by setting up his own furniture business. In a second plot strand we follow the relationship between Mike and Adam (Alex Pettyfer), a young man who Mike takes under his wing and introduces to the world of stripping. The film is pretty thin plot wise and the aforementioned storylines don’t exactly grab the attention. However it does work well in two other areas. The first (which Tatum has said he hoped the film would capture) is the camaraderie, atmosphere and energy between the dancers both onstage and off. Secondly, the business aspect of the job is well portrayed with club owner Matthew McConaughey at pains to point out that the company should be as professionally run as possible, but with the temptations of women, drink and drugs lurking around every corner it’s quite a battle. I’m not that bothered with the arguments behind the sexual politics of the film and to be fair to the studio they were upfront about their marketing campaign targeting women and gay men (which clearly paid off as this has become a box office success). However I think it’s fair to say that Soderbergh and Carolin could have done a bit more both from the camera point of view and the join the dots plotting. Acting wise, Pettyfer and McConaughey give the best performances. Tatum is his usual self, but at least he’s better than Cody Horn (as the love interest) who is beyond bland. Plus, Mike and Adam hardly seem to connect as friends or colleagues, but that might have something to do with the rumours that Tatum and Pettyfer didn’t get on during filming. One person who Tatum does like though is Nicolas Winding Refn who he originally wanted to direct this, but scheduling conflicts meant it never came to fruition. The mind boggles at that one.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict

Cheap thrills for some, but only an average film for the rest. Rating: 6/10.