I Thought This Was About Magicians..."Magic Mike"

First David Copperfield...and now this?


The Story:

Mike (Channing Tatum) works all day...and works it all night in a club owned by his buddy Dallas (Matthew McCounaghey) as a male stripper.  On his latest construction gig, he runs across a young loser named Adam (Alex Pettyfer) who wants to be Mike's best friend.  Mike takes him under his wing and teaches him the ropes about being a male stripper.  This doesn't sit too well with Adam's sister (Cody Horn) who is irritated by, yet drawn to Mike.

Perhaps your sense of entertainment from this movie will be directly related to how much you enjoy watching male strippers?

If that is the case, I am definitely not the target audience for this film, but it was a slow week for new releases at Netflix, and this one came up next in the queue.

Channing Tatum says that this is based on his story before he broke into Hollywood.  If that makes him Adam, then yikes.

Adam is a completely selfish and really quite stupid character with no redeeming qualities or features whatsoever.  This would seem the most likely of the characters, and if so, well done to Mr. Tatum for digging himself out of a hole in his life that would probably kill most people.

More likely, he is Mike who is indeed infinitely likeable, has a heart of gold, and wants something more out of life.  Yeah, that sounds better.  I wish he would have had the sense to hire his wife to play his love interest in this film, or any other actress for that matter.  The one they hired is downright awful and is in over her head with actual actors surrounding her.

The first half of the movie actually works at a great pace under the more than competent direction of Steven Soderbergh.  But after awhile, the movie seems to lose focus as they simply pile conflict upon conflict and ultimately resolve...absolutely nothing.

The movie ends on a most unsatisfying conclusion, answering no questions that were raised... perhaps setting up for the inevitable sequel?

I would be remiss if I didn't mention how hysterical it was to see Kevin Nash attempt to be a male stripper.  He's about as flexible as an oak tree, and his group dance routine with the other actors was a laugh riot, purely unintentionally.  I'm sure the ladies are focused on the beefcake on display front and center, I was too busy laughing at Nash in the background.

So if you're coming to see Channing Tatum shake his moneymaker, you're in luck.

If you're coming for a compelling dramedy.... I highly suggest you look elsewhere.

Final Grade: C

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Not going to happen.