MAGIC MIKE - A six-pack short of a good movie.

With little being released this weekend we decided to see a film we missed a few weekends ago, one that I thought the other half would love to see due to it involving a lot of male stripping by some pretty hot guys. That's right ladies that film was Magic Mike and due to the content of the film I was a little dubious about heading into cinemas to see it. This paranoia of what other blokes would think of me hit sky high when I walked into the theatre and I was one of only three men sitting between about fifty women. Already I was red faced. However I wasn't the only one who left the showing red faced as I feel most people left feeling peeved off at their decision to see this movie. It really is bad.

I was happy to look past the stripping thread of the story as I thought it may turn out to be funny and it could make me chuckle a bit like The Full Monty. First mistake right there as this is not a comedy, in fact it is a serious take on this absurd world. Ok I'll give it another chance, perhaps if they made it quite dark with plenty of story strands and deep themes to really grip hold of. Nope they didn't do this either, so what is it? Well I can tell you now it is dull, boring and with some of the worst acting I have seen in a film for years. It may not strike you that as a bloke that I was bored of a male stripper's movie, but the girlfriend was more bored than I was. The stripping scenes are actually the bits that are entertaining but the problem is there are so many of them that it is just the same routine on repeat. Channing Tatum seems to do the same dance moves whenever he hits the stage despite being told he needs to freshen up his act. Yes we get that Mr Tatum can dance but we've seen his skills in the first three scenes, we don't have to see them in the fourth.

The story is loosely based on Tatum's life growing up; however there was no story really to tell. What we have is a set up of the world of stripping, a young lad (Alex Pettyfer) becoming involved in it, more of the same stripping, Tatum meets the young lad's sister, more of the same stripping, the young lad gets caught with drugs, more of the same stripping and we finish with a lame ending. That is how this film rolls, no real themes, no real message and no real story to actually enjoy and grasp a hold of. It is like the only thing the filmmakers went on is gaining a female audience by making good looking men take their clothes off. To me that isn't a film. One of the strippers is actually a wrestler and his performance is so bad that you can see him following the dance moves a step behind whilst on screen; these are the sort of things the director should iron out. This was another problem; the direction was poor. It seemed uninterested and unoriginal. One of the worst ideas was showing Channing Tatum sitting on the beach with cross fade transitions to different camera angles, I mean cheesy and un-experimental.

One of the good points of the film though has to be Matthew McConaughey who was brilliant in his performance. A smile lights on your face every time he is on screen and he is actually the only person you want to see on it. He is funny and really delivers his lines with authority. His scene in front of the mirror is just ace. His performance however is a huge contrast to others in the film who are poor at best. Tatum is nothing spectacular but is better than the rest of the bunch. Pettyfer is beginning to prove he is not set up for the screen and Cody Horn, who played his sister, was so uninteresting or bothered to make us care about her character. It was hard to believe why Tatum would fall for her and this is down to the performance.

I have to say this is the worst film we have seen so far this year. There is nothing new on show and even the dialogue is ripped off from other movies out there. I definitely advise not to see this movie but if you do just watch the parts with McConaughey. I believe even some women came out the theatre feeling the same way as me so Soderbergh has failed to even grasp the attention of his main target audience.




Pros: McConaughey's performance.

Cons: Everything else.

2.5 / 10


Top 10 films of 2012 so far:


1. The Dark Knight Rises     10 / 10
2. The Hunger Games     8 / 10
3. Snow White And The Huntsman     8 / 10
4. Avengers Assemble     7.5 / 10
5. 21 Jump Street     7.5 / 10
6. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol     7 / 10
7. The Grey     7 / 10
8. Prometheus     6.5 / 10
9. Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World     6.5 / 10
10. The Amazing Spider-man     6 / 10