Starring: Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Cody Horn, Matt Bomer, Olivia Munn, Kevin Nash, Joe Manganiello, Matthew McConaughey, Adam Rodríguez, Gabriel Iglesias
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rating: B-
I like to try to give credit where credit is due. With Magic
Mike credit has to be given to the trailer, which I think did a really good
job of presenting the movie without telling you everything that happened. So
often these days movies are ruined by trailers; you find out the entire story
by watching them, and all the best parts are included in them (in their
entirety) so by the time you actually see the movie you already know how it
ends. The trailer for Magic Mike really isn’t like this. All it really tells you is that Magic Mike is a movie about male
strippers and one of them makes coffee tables and has a thing going on with
this girl. While the film is about that,
there’s also a lot more to it – although, in many ways that is actually one of
the biggest problems of Magic Mike.
This film is about two guys, Adam “the Kid” (Pettyfer) and Mike “Magic
Mike” Lane (Tatum). Mike is a self described entrepreneur; he works a number of
jobs, often in managerial type positions and is trying to save so that he can put
a down payment on a loan that will enable him to open his own custom furniture
business. The Kid is somewhat of his
opposite; he’s a slacker, immature, rash young man who seems to have no real
aims in life. At the start of the film
he’s jobless and living on his sister’s couch, in need of a job but not really
trying to find (and keep) one. After
meeting Mike a series of events unfold that results in the Kid getting a job at
Xquisite, a popular nightclub that features male strippers. From there the Kid’s life takes an
interesting turn, especially after once he becomes involved in a drug selling
scheme. Mike, meanwhile is trying to
straddle two worlds, pardon the pun, stripper by night and entrepreneur by day;
he’s also growing closer with Adam’s sister, Brooke (Horn), while partaking in
what was meant to be an on-again off-again relationship, but came across as a
series of booty calls with Joanna (Munn). Overshadowing the whole thing is the
attempt to move the club from Tampa to Miami (because Miami is where all good
male strippers go in order to become famous? I have no clue).
A few criticisms of the movie that I’ve heard revolve around it not
having a story – I disagree, and counter that the problem with Magic Mike is that it has too much
story. The film doesn’t seem to really
know what kind of movie it wants to be.
A lot of it is presented as a mockumentary, which I actually really
enjoyed, but at other points it seems to drop this in order for… well, for
flashier strip scenes. I think in the
long run, the movie would have been far better served by picking one style
(preferably the mockumentary) and sticking with it. There are points when it is trying to be a
funny stripper movie, points when it’s trying to be a serious stripper movie, and
points when it’s trying to be a guy meets girl type of movie. At some points it weaves these different
genres together rather nicely, at other points it doesn’t seem to work as
well. I think the film would have gained
a lot by simplifying some of these plots, removing some of the characters, and
sticking to just one format. Where it does succeed, however is in the humour - especially among secondary characters, who are often doing things in the background - and the actual dancing. I'm not talking about the stripping per say, but the dancing itself. Say what you want about Channing Tatum's acting skills, he is a really good dancer. I would love to see him do more expanding on that talent than along other lines that he's pursued in his acting career.
The next little bit is going to be somewhat spoilerish, and for that I
apologize. The film’s conclusion is
rather open ended, having addressed some of the plots but not all of them. There is a lot that is left undetermined, and
even what is determined is rather vague in terms of ‘what could be’. When I left the film I was actually rather unsatisfied
by the ending because of just how abrupt it worked out. Having read a few other reviews and a few
threads on the ending on the IMDb boards, I think my opinion of the movie is a
bit changed. It was pointed out that the
way that Magic Mike ends is a lot
like real life; things don’t always get wrapped up with a nice little bow in
real life, and people do come in and out of your life without any real
conclusion to things. Often times, a descent
into a life of drugs doesn’t end with a happy resolution, and Magic Mike does rather subtly address
this. I’m not sure that I would say I’m
happy with the ending as the film was, but with that in mind I think had some
of the other problems of the movie been addressed, especially in terms of
overall format, I would have been a lot less disappointed. Really, in a lot of ways I think the ending
for Magic Mike was a lot like the
ending for Take This Waltz – neither were
intended to resolve things, but rather make you think and leave you wanting
more. That having been said, however, Tatum
has reported that they’re planning on doing a sequel, hopefully in which a lot
of this stuff is going to resolve.
