Movie Review: MAGIC MIKE

MAGIC MIKE

Starring:

Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Matthew McConaughey, Matt Bomer, Cody Horn

MAGIC MIKE SYNOPSIS (source): Mike is 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. But at night... he's just magic. The hot headliner in an all-male revue, he has been rocking the stage at Club Xquisite for years with his original style and over-the-top dance moves. Seeing potential in a guy he calls the Kid, 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.

Yes. I saw this movie. And no, I have no shame in admitting to it. However, I do have a surprising amount of thoughts. On the outside, Magic Mike is a movie about male strippers having a good time. It is actually pretty funny and entertaining. If this were the only focus of the movie, I wouldn't have any problems with it. But the filmmakers made a mistake. They tried to stop the fun in order to create some sort of message. Halfway through, the movie stops being about the ridiculous stripping scenes and parties on the beach, and instead becomes about the pitfalls of the stripping world (drugs, loneliness, inappropriate behavior). 

Magic Mike wants to build furniture. He wants a life outside the stripping world, while The Kid gets increasingly wrapped up in the glamour. In my opinion, if topics like drugs and reform are going to be introduced, then they must also be followed through. Now, I am not saying that this movie had to have substance. It didn't, which is why they shouldn't have bothered to try to give it substance to begin with. 

This movie needed a focus--be it the fun route or the serious route--the two should not have been combined. Or at least combined a bit more affectively. This movie makes me think about books and writing. It is easy to get a story going and suddenly the characters have all of these story lines playing out that by the time one reaches the end, half of them are given unsatisfactory endings and the other half are scrapped altogether. 

Focus, focus, focus. That's all I'm asking. Stay on track. Flesh out the solid story lines and then let others be. Don't try to bite off more than you can chew in one movie or one 300 page book. 

Okay, my complaints aside, in reality this was not a half bad movie. For what it's worth, it was entertaining, relatively well written, the cinematography was interesting, and the acting was...well, Channing Tatum doesn't wear many shirts. If you are looking for a good time, this movie is worth it. The story will entertain but the ending will disappoint.