Review of Magic Mike (2012) by Bass 9 — 28 May 2013

Grade: B-.

Magic Mike is a decent movie which portrays the dodgy side of being a stripper, which isn't often talked about. The film is about Mike (Channing Tatum- yum yum yum), a 30-year-old stripper who only does stripping in order to make money to start up a business of his own. He takes naive 19-year-old Adam (Alex Pettyfer- he's equally gorgeous)under his wing and introduces him to stripping, showing him the ropes. With the money and the hoards of women at his feet, leaving his older sister Brooke (Cody Horn)extremely worried about him. Brooke and Mike get to know one another through Adam with Mike promising to take care of her little bro and surprise surprise sparks fly between Mike and Brooke.

At times I found the film a little bland and dreary and the acting wasn't phenomenal, it was mediocre. However Matthew McConnaughey really impressed me, he was really good in this! Usually Matthew M (can never bothered to take time to spell his surname) plays the chilled hunk in nearly every movie, so it was nice to see him play a different role. His versatility impressed me; he plays the ruthless manager of the strip joint who only cares about making money, not his workers. I think Channing Tatum was good in this and he always has presence and charm on screen. Him and Matthew M were the best. I found some of the other characters annoying like Brooke whose voice is quite irritating.

I liked how the film wasn't a slushy and sappy like most rom-coms and actually was more about the stripping industry than the romance. Furthermore I felt that there could have been some more development to the film, sometimes its just too much on the surface.

All in all I wouldn't say it's a great movie, but it's decent. The hot guys make it bearable. If stripping is your thing you'll like this movie. I enjoyed some of the stripping scenes, but it also shows that dark side of stripping like drugs and going to far with the clients. Worth a watch.