Magic Mike

Magic Mike

  1. 110 min. Rated R.

“You are the husband they never had! You are that dreamboat guy that never came along!”

You know you’re a children’s librarian when you first received an e-vite that is entitled “Magic Mike” and you think  you are going with your girlfriends to see a magician. I was sorely disappointed there were no rabbits coming out of hats, but I sure saw some tricks in this movie (not in 3D, sadly).

Mike (Channing Tatum) is a stripper in Florida trying to save enough money so he can start a legitimate furniture business. During a side construction job, he meets Adam “the Kid” (Alex Pettyfer), a younger version of himself with no career prospects. To escape from an awkward family outing, Adam tags along with Mike. Adam inadvertently ends up being the new addition to the strip club, despite the reservations of his straight-laced sister, Joanna (Olivia Munn). Mike tries to woo Joanna, but she’s not impressed by his playboy lifestyle. Meanwhile, Adam is getting into trouble with his new found money, and loving every minute of it. Mike has to decide if maybe he’s getting too old for this lifestyle. This story is actually based on Tatum’s past as a stripper, so we know how it turns out.

I went into this movie thinking it was going to be like an elongated visit to a strip club, but the movie, surprisingly, has a plot (although only if you consider a movie like Step Up having a plot, which coincidentally also stars Tatum). On a positive note, this movie doesn’t glamorize or glorify strippers. Besides their killer bodies, they are train wrecks. They do drugs, womanized, and partied. They have no credit, real careers, or meaningful relationships. They just live for the moment. The strip dances are comical and cheesy, involving many community helpers (although no librarians were present–hmph!), except for Tatum, who can actually dance.

The movie attempts an amalgamation of many artistic camera techniques (not of just guys bodies, either), but it doesn’t seem to fit the tone of the movie. The drug scene effects are particularly mediocre, and the jerky car ride scenes made me nauseous.

Olivia Munn was a terrible actress. Her cold stoic expressions and delivery of lines came off as bad Kristen Stewart acting. The only person who seemed to be acting was Matthew McConaughey as Dallas, the owner of the strip club.  I’m sure McConaughey was well paid for his one stripping performance during the movie. Most of the other characters aren’t well developed. The only person I was curious about was Kid’s girlfriend with the pot-bellied pig who just acts as a catalyst for his destructive drug lifestyle.

But women don’t go to this movie for deep plots, acting, or artistic camera angles! We go for girl’s night out, bonding, and to ogle guys in good shape. One woman in the theater bathroom after the movie said, “she needed to take a cold shower.”  Although only one penis was actually seen (that I remember anyway), there is no way girls can tell guys that they can’t see “those kinds of movies,” but they can see Magic Mike or read Fifty Shades of Grey. It’s about time we admit it is the same thing.

 

Author: Jessica

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