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Magic Mike: rare shot with most of the clothes on |
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Cast: Channing Tatum (“Magic” Mike Lane), Alex Pettyfer
(Adam “The Kid”), Cody Horn (Brooke), Matt Bomer (Ken), Olivia Munn (Joanna),
Joe Manganiello (Big Dick Richie), Matthew McConaughey (Dallas), Adam Rodriguez
(Tito), Kevin Nash (Tarzan), Gabriel Iglesias (Tobias)
The formula for Magic
Mike is basically an all-boys Coyote
Ugly mixed with a 1970s blue-collar social drama. But a blue-collar social
drama where collars might be all the men are wearing. Based on Channing Tatum’s
own experiences as a stripper back in the day (I’d be fascinated to find out
how many of the things in this film Tatum got up to when he was a lad), Magic Mike follows the story of Mike
Like (Tatum), a brilliant stripper who dreams of setting up his own bespoke
furniture company (if that’s not an insight into the sort of eccentric film
this is, you’ve got it there!). Meeting young Adam (Alex Pettyfer), he takes
the kid under his wing and inducts him in the world of strip clubs. Adam gets a
taste for the life, while Mike gets a taste for the company of Adam’s disapproving
sister Brooke (Cody Horn). So mentor and mentee gradually find themselves
drifting towards trouble.
Magic Mike is good
fun mixed with some pretty standard low-rent crapsack world problems, as
small-time crime and drugs intrude on the otherwise gentle world of
professional male stripping. Magic Mike
is essentially a sort of fairy tale, which wants to enjoy the dynamism of performing
on stage while also casting a disapproving eye on its hedonism and emptiness.
It’s the sort of film which wants to show what a great time you can have living
that lifestyle in the short term, while also praising its hero for realising he
wants more. You might think (and it has been sold and partially recut) into a hot stripping film, but deep down it wants to be a 1970s social issues drama. It just never quite gets there, because it doesn't have the depth and can't escape the cliches of coming-of-age dramas.
So it’s not exactly the most revelatory film in the world.
What’s most interesting is that often in these films it’s the mentor who leads
the mentee astray. Here, it’s the mentor who finds his life gradually being damaged
by the mentee. Mike is basically a kind, decent guy who just hasn’t really
grown up. Adam, whom he brings into the stripping world, is basically a
shallow, lazy, increasingly selfish person who is only interested in himself.
While deep down Mike knows that stripping and all its hedonistic temptations are
only a means to an end, for Alex it is
the end, and he wants to lead this sort of life forever.
Mike’s basic charm works so well because it’s rooted in
Channing Tatum’s own charm as a performer. He has a sweet, puppydog quality as
well as a fundamental little-boy-lost innocence, which should seem strange for
a bloke who rips his clothes off and gyrates semi-naked on a stage in the laps
of cheering women. But it makes sense. The show is a brilliant showcase for
Tatum, not only showing his acting and performing strengths but also showcasing
his dancing and movement skills. As well as, of course, his chiselled torso.
The film front and centres a rather sweet will-they-won’t-they with Mike and
Alex’s sister Brooke, played with a sweet firmness by Cory Horn. And there are
a host of other excellent performances, not least Matthew McConaughey stealing
scenes as club owner Dallas, hiding his greed under a domineering bonhomie.
The film stops frequently for elaborate stripping scenes in
manager Dallas’ club. These are put
together with real wit and engagement, and while the film never really explores
the issues in stripping (no touching from the guests, performance enhancing
drugs, the hedonistic openness etc. etc.) it does make a change to see the men
of the film being treated entirely as sex objects and not the women (or at
least not as much, this still being a film that opens with a semi-nude Olivia
Munn). Soderbergh though has always been a proficient technician rather than
the sort of intelligent artiste he would like us to think he is, so it’s a not
real surprise that most of the film is more flash than depth.
So that’s perhaps why the film largely settles for being a
standard “man needs to grow up and leave his old life behind” and “young buck
goes out of control” story. The structure of this, and its air of kitchen sink
drama as we see Mike struggle to get a loan to start his business, or deal with
a stripping event gone wrong as Alex brings drugs to a private party, is
something that contrasts nicely with the more dynamic stuff in the club. All
this is pretty standard arc material – and Soderbergh’s film dodges really
drilling down into some of the issues it touches on.
Magic Mike is a
fun film with a touch of depth, that wants to combine a character study with a
study of its stars’ characterful bodies. It only touches upon some of its
themes, and tells a fairly traditional story under all that. But it's got a sort of charm, and it delivers its cliches with aplomb. But then I'm not sure I'm quite the target market for it.
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