Reviewed by Melissa Antoinette Garza
To start off with, I need to give kudos to my awesomely fantastic husband. He surprised me with this movie. For the last two weeks, my anxiety has been at its peak so he decided to make my day by renting Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey Strip…I’m sorry I just realized that’s not the name of this film. It’s actually called Magic Mike.
Of course, the stripping is NOT the only reason I wanted to see this film. I wanted to see it because it’s an artistic production directed by Steven Soderbergh and it tells the story of male exotic dancers……and of course Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey take off their clothes.
So the story follows the experienced stripper Magic Mike (Tatum) who trains Adam (Alex Pettyfer) a young stud he recruits how to live the stripper life. At first, club owner Dallas (Matthew McConaughey) opposes the introduction of Adam who begins by handling the props for the other exotic dancers. He ends up going out and stripping that night. He does a great job, earns the respect of Dallas and gets a job at the bar.
I must admit that I was surprised that WWF/WWE pro-wrestler Kevin Nash was in this film (side note: I hate calling it
WWE. I despise that they changed the name. I will never ever donate funds to the World Wildlife Foundation because it was a dispute with them that made wrestling change its name. Screw the endangered species. Unless, bunnies become endangered because I do like bunnies.) For old school fans, I remember when he was partnered with Shawn Michaels as the team Two Dudes with Attitude. Back then, Nash was called Diesel. Ironically, in his heyday Michaels would come to the ring doing a semi-strip routine. When I was a teenager, I loved Shawn. I thought he was gorgeous. I had a cardboard stand-up of him in my room and a poster that hung from the top of the door to the bottom. One time, I went to see him in person and I grabbed his arm and it was awesome – sweaty and oily but awesome. That was also the event where I held up a sign that said, “Bring Back Nikolai Volkoff” and the Iron Sheik who was managing The Sultan at the time saw my sign and gave me a thumbs up. This really has nothing to do with Magic Mike but I like that the Iron Sheik saw me.
Back to Magic Mike. It’s a really fun film. There are elements of romance and witty banter between the characters. Thankfully, everything stays pretty light. There are a few moments of semi-serious drama. For example, Mike tries to obtain a business loan from a bank but due to his credit score he’s denied. That is truly as intense as it gets.
Surprisingly, the film doesn’t make stripping something dark or embarrassing. Instead, it’s shown as a fun profession without ignoring the perils of getting too old, doing drugs and overall money issues.
As for the acting its great. I love that McConaughey actually said, “alright, alright, alright” in it. He is known for his sense of humor and ability to laugh at himself, and in this film it was clearly shown. McConaughey is absolutely gorgeous. He also is an amazing actor. Anyone who has seen A Time to Kill can attest to this. My husband also stated that he was great in Contact which I have yet to see – mostly because I always get it confused with Nell – that movie where Jodi Foster is raised in the woods and can’t talk. The previews for Nell always freaked me out and not in the good way. I remember her mouth being open and her eyes being wide and me thinking, “Oh my God, she’s going to eat Liam Neeson whole.” It was at that moment that I decided to never watch that movie – and sadly Contact got pushed aside as a result.
Tatum is also great in the production. He has the ability to portray both humor and sadness at once which is most certainly a gift for any actor. He can carry a smirk and at the same time show a glimpse of discontent in his eyes to reveal the character’s true emotion and internal conflict.
As for the movie itself, I enjoyed it immensely but I think any heterosexual woman or homosexual male would agree. The real test is whether a lesbian or heterosexual male would enjoy it as much. To answer this question, I’ll relay my husband’s opinion who was lying in bed with me watching it. “It’s not bad. It’s a little slow but …it’s good.”
So, I suggest it. It’s definitely more dramatic than the trailer reveals. It has comedic moments but is most certainly a light drama.
Overall Rating: 7/10
Thanks for the read! I can definitely see what you’re saying about this film, but for me honestly I was pretty bored with it. I enjoyed the eye candy of course, and the acting of Matthew McConaughey and Channing Tatum, but really that’s all I liked. It might be that I was expecting a lot from it based on what a couple of the gals I work with at DISH had to say about it, but I was disappointed. Maybe a second viewing will change my mind though, so I’ll have to give it another try soon. Good thing the way I rented it with my Blockbuster @Home package through DISH doesn’t have late fees, because really it might just sit on my entertainment center for a while collecting dust lol. Thanks for sharing though, and I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed it at least. 🙂
Thanks for the comment! I thought it was much better than its counterparts – Striptease, Show Girls, Burlesque etc. but I can definitely see that it was slow in some parts as well.