Review of Magic Mike (2012) by Sausages M — 23 Feb 2013

I'll admit it. I rented it to watch a trashy movie about male strippers for a change from all the serious stuff I've been watching recently. I didn't realise it was a Soderbergh though, and so we ended up with convincing naturalistic dialogue and a reasonable, if slightly undercooked plot. This seems to be a problem with modern films- they seem to be trying to tell a story but no one has really sat down and fully thought about it enough. It's like a second draft. So, whilst Channing Tatum is surprisingly effective/good as the leading male and Pettyfer suitable as his young idiot co-star, ultimately they're let down by a story that needed more work.

In the end, you wonder who this is for. It's too scared to be homoerotic, too serious to be chicknip but too unrealised to be drama. It kind of reminded me of an Old Hollywood morality tale, which is actually kind of encouraging in an industry that's so very vapid these days. So- a good film but not quite good enough.