I mentioned Magic Mike in my article last week concerning which upcoming films I was looking forward to for the rest of 2012, saying that I hoped it would be a film which evoked similar feelings in me as Boogie Nights does (my second favourite film of all time). For whatever reason I like films that deal with the sex industry in an affectionate way, showing the human nature of the people within the industry, whether they're capitalising on it for monetary purposes or simply the primal pleasure of it all. Naturally after reading the premise of the story and watching the first trailer I was - much to the dismay of my male friends and co-workers - eagerly waiting to see if Steven Soderbergh could deliver a film that would give me my fix in a genre which rarely gets any mainstream attention.
The plot here is nothing particularly new - The eponymous Mike (Channing Tatum, who not coincidently was a stripper previous to becoming a film star) is a self-titled "entrepreneur" working a thousand jobs so that he can eventually afford to start-up his own custom furniture company. Along his way he meets Adam (Alex Pettyfer) a rebellious 19 year old flitting aimlessly from job to job. Mike introduces Adam into a male revue led by Dallas (Matthew McConaughey) and together they form a strong bond of friendship. As is the usual case in these types of films however it isn't long before the life of excess becomes too much and things soon spiral out of control.
Despite it's clichéd predictable storyline the film manages to succeed thanks to a taught, fast moving progression, plenty of funny moments and some really excellent performances primarily from Tatum and McConaughey. Both have been on a warpath lately to shed the constraints of the one dimensional pretty boy images they've established up to this point in their career and this is another big step in the right direction to proving they're credible actors worthy of meaty roles in more difficult material. I was surprised just how much humanity Tatum injected into his role even during his characters more egocentric scenes, maintaining a glimpse at a weaker person behind the focused visage. McConaughey on the other hand steals the show as the ultra self-assured ringleader Dallas, who provides many of the films funnier moments. So dedicated and passionate is he regarding his craft that he seems almost maniacal at times. The weak spot in the casting would be Pettyfer who seems wooden as the sulky and really rather unlikable Adam. Watching his rise and fall I couldn't help but be oddly reminded of the similarly stiff Hayden Christensen in the Star Wars prequels. One last interesting note on the casting is wrestler Kevin Nash as the oldest and clumsiest looking of the dancers Tarzan. His rugged, oafish (though not dumb) character added a little bit of humorous variety to the otherwise typically young and handsome remainders of the troupe.
Magic Mike is an absolutely fantastically enjoyable film with some of the most memorable moments I've had at the cinema this year. The movie is never embarrassed by its subject matter, packing in it as many well choreographed and performed strip numbers as the audience could want, but the real beauty is that it isn't a lazy film which rests all of its attentions on these scenes. It may not be the perfect piece of cinema that that Boogie Nights is, but you're unlikely to see a more funny, heartfelt and just plain enjoyable film that will appeal to both female and male audiences this summer. It had me smiling throughout and thus I've made it my mission to recommend the film to every single one of those male colleagues of mine who sneered at me when I said I was going to see it.
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