Movie Review: Magic Mike

Magic Mike
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Cast: Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Matthew McConaughey, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, Olivia Munn.
Run-time: 110 min
Rating: R
Released: June 29th 2012

Plot: (from Warner Bros) Mike (Channing Tatum) is an entrepreneur. A man of many talents and loads of charm, he spends his days pursuing the American Dream from as many angles as he can handle: from roofing houses and detailing cars to designing furniture from his Tampa beach condo.But at night... he's just magic.

The hot headliner in an all-male revue, Magic Mike has been rocking the stage at Club Xquisite for years with his original style and over-the-top dance moves. The more the ladies love him, the more they spend, and the happier that makes club owner Dallas (Matthew McConaughey).

Seeing potential in a guy he calls the Kid (Alex Pettyfer), Mike takes the 19-year-old under his wing and schools him in the fine arts of dancing, partying, picking up women and making easy money. It's not long before the club's newest act has fans of his own, as the summer opens up to a world of fun, friendship and good times.

Meanwhile, Mike meets the Kid's captivating sister, Brooke (Cody Horn). She's definitely someone he'd like to know a lot better, and it looks like he has a chance...until his lifestyle gets in the way.

I know most of us are going in to see this movie for all the eye candy. We have been talking for weeks, how a plot doesn't matter as long as the eye candy is dancing. Well the eye candy is definitely there but not how we were hoping throughout the movie. Pretty much the teasers or photos you have seen online, are the best parts and they only last a few minutes in the film. That plot that we didn't care for if there wasn't one really written in, guess what there was a plot and it took up about 80% of the film's time. So while we are hoping to see these men shaking their Badonkadonks the whole time, we are left short. 

The plot was a weak one, it basically follows Magic Mike (Channing Tatum) and The Kid (Alex Pettyfer). They meet for the first time on a construction job. Mike can tell that Kid is a rookie and has never done this type of work before. He ends up giving him a ride home. Then they bump into each other again at night when Kid is trying to escape from his sister and her date, he ends up at a club that he sees Mike outside. Kid ask Mike to help him get in. They go inside and end up hanging out with some girls, that Mike invites to go see the Male Revenue Show. So Mike takes Kid with him to where the guys dance at Club Xquisite. The owner is Dallas (Matthew McConaughey) and gives Kid a chance to work the props for the guys that night. During that night one of the dancers passes out from drug use, so they throw Kid out on the stage to take his place. That gets Kid a job now as one of the dancers. They help shape him up and teach him all the moves. How to loosen up with drugs and so forth. This is all done on the weekends and then they do private shows on the sides too. 

Mike has plans beyond just being a 30+ year old stripper, he want to run a one of a kind furniture making business, but the banks won't give him any kind of loans or deals to begin his company. Then the money he has been raising in the last 6 years he has been stripping, he ends up using it for something else totally unexpected. Mike starts to struggle with separating his life outside of stripping. Everything is affected including his love life. 

So I won't give anymore away, but the movie is not believable. I can't see Kid as a 19 year old kid. I would have preferred more dancing, not so much stripping but dancing by all the guys. The rest of the characters have nonexistent parts. They might speak 5-10 words throughout the whole movie. The sister of Kid, her face throughout the movie drove me nuts. I also would have preferred less drug abuse. This movie is not appropriate to be seen with minors, there is strong drug abuse, sexual scenes and nudity. Why would you watch it, well you'll still enjoy the few parts that they actually have dance routines, other than that you can tell the movie cost only 5 million dollars to make.