Cheesy where it needs to be and with just enough weight to keep us engaged, “Magic Mike” isn’t magical, but it’s better than anyone would have expected. And Channing Tatum once again impresses by taking the stage flipping and gyrating for the screaming women in the audience. Chicks will love it!
Mike (Tatum) is a thirty-year-old male stripper in Tampa. He has established himself as a local celebrity of sorts capable of by-passing the velvet ropes outside the high-class dance clubs to moments later press the flesh inside. But he longs for something more. He’s an entrepreneur he often tells people. The word rolls off Mike’s lips as if rehearsed in front of the bathroom mirror with just enough sex appeal to sound less than convincing as if part of his seductive act. In fact, his outward sexuality is so intimidating that when he tries to get a bank loan for one of his businesses, the banker tells him “no” with her mouth while the rest of her body is fighting to keep from jumping his bones. Mike’s an entrepreneur whose chief commodity is his aging body.
One day, Mike meets Adam (Alex Pettyfer) an aimless 19 year-old hunk who Mike immediately dubs “the kid” and brings into the stripping game. Adam is pushed onto the stage and proves that just looking the part is most of the job. In time, the kid will begin to take Mike’s place in the limelight. The question is will Mike give up the stage?
Adam’s sister Brooke (Cody Horn) is concerned about her brother’s new lifestyle. But Mike promises her that he will take care of the boy. Brooke’s a terrifically good-looking gal and believe me Mike has taken notice. But the attraction between the two isn’t based on physical attributes, and if they are to get together, it’s going to start with a lot of talk and patience. And in Mike’s world of instant gratification, patience is not a valued quality.
“Magic Mike” is an incredibly well-made movie by a real craftsman director Steven Soderbergh. The set-up is really exciting, even for guys who could care less about male strippers. Tatum is flat out fantastic when he is on the stage and capable of conveying much acting range in the scenes that have him more fully clothed. Matthew McConaughey pushes the edge of the envelope playing Dallas, the sexually neutral strip club owner who is more into himself than anyone else on the planet. In one scene, there is a party at Dallas’ house and the décor features a large painting of himself and even a sculpted bust of him as well. One wonders whether McConaughey got to keep such props. His casting here is a masterstroke because its works both as comic relief and as the sardonic underpinning for the “Magic Mike” story. Mike doesn’t want to become Dallas, but the conflict is whether he will go that route.
The glitz, glamour, and emptiness of the stripper business is captured well in the first hour of the movie, but “Magic Mike” falters a bit as it comes to an end. The set-up is strong but it finishes a little soft. Still, the characters are so much fun to hang out with, that the movie as a whole is worth visiting. And with all that male flesh on display, I suspect that women viewers will not complain.