Magic Mike: "Will You Welcome To The Stage, The One, The Only...Magic Mike"

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writer:    Reid Carolin
Starring: Channing Tatum
               Alex Pettyfer
               Matthew McConaughey
               Cody Horn
               Matt Bomer
               Joe Manganiello 
               Olivia Munn
               Alex Rodriguez
               Kevin Nash
Rating:    *

Release Date: Out Now

Magic Mike was announced last year, and with each new piece of casting and film news that was released, many a head began to turn. Women (and some men) have been getting all hot and bothered for years at just the idea of these Hollywood hunks getting nekkid, and now their fantasies were going to come true...well, almost. I can honestly say (and I know many, many people will disagree) that Magic Mike failed to live up to it's over-sized, over-hyped expectations, and the film as a whole was dull, unoriginal and extremely boring.

Channing Tatum & Cody Horn

The story follows Mike (Tatum) as he goes through life trying to sell the unusual furniture he makes, but of course this means starting a business which costs a lot of money; how does he raise that amount of cash...stripping of course. He works as the head dancer at a very popular strip joint owned by ex-stripper and southern sleaze-bag Dallas (McConaughey). Alongside 'Magic Mike' performing on stage each night is handsome Ken (Bomer); big, brutish bear Tarzan (Nash); Latino lover Tito (Rodriguez); and the aptly named Big-Dick Richie (Manganiello). 

Whilst working at one of his side jobs as a builder, Mike meets the unlucky, lazy and kind of selfish Adam (Pettyfer), who is just looking for a way to make a quick buck. Mike, for some reason, sees potential in 'The Kid', and soon snaps him up and enlists him as the newest dancer; it's this friendship that the film follows and unravels.

(L-R) Matt Bomer, Channing Tatum,
Alex Rodriguez & Joe Manganiello

Admittedly the actors do a terrific job doing something that most of Hollywood's biggest stars wouldn't even dare to do; unfortunately it is riddled with cliches, flat jokes, and for a stripper film...barely any stripping. Tatum, whom this film is based on, plays Mike competently; but even a dull and uninteresting romance with Adam's sister Brooke (Horn), trying to set up his furniture business, and randomly some serious drug money debts; can't make him interesting or dynamic enough for the audience to root for. 

The whole sorry affair just wreaks of desperation, and rather than feeling like a film that was made out of passion and the love of film making...it just feels like a badly set up money-grabbing scheme; just bringing in an audience for their benefit. The film is one big mish-mash of plotlines that are boring and uninteresting, especially the romance storyline. Fair enough Tatum and Horn do have brilliant chemistry and feel really natural together, but the lame script hinders them, and wrecks any success they would've achieved.

Alex Pettyfer & Matthew McConaughey

The rest of the male cast do an alright job, considering the script and direction isn't up to scratch, but they are severely underused considering it is a movie about male strippers. The only one of them that gets even a hint of a storyline is McConaughey, who manages to portray a greasy, arrogant and money-hungry club owner superbly; probably because he comes across as a greasy, arrogant and (judging by the fact he will happily star in any film no matter how bad) money-hungry "actor" in real life.

When first announced, many people got very excited about the prospect of seeing Hollywood's finest specimens stripping on the big screen; however what we were served up was anything but impressive and was, if anything, a massive let down. I find it bizarre that many women on Facebook and Twitter are bragging about going to see this film 2, maybe 3, times; as I don't think I could bring myself to sit through this even once more. As my friend and I were saying to each other after seeing the film, if you're going to make a film about stripping...then you should do just that.

 
Magic Mike  - Trailer