Movie Review: Magic Mike

Magic scenery is a top girls’ night out

MOVIE REVIEW

Magic Mike

Rated: M

Review: Jackie Coffin

Rating: 7/10

Three days after Steven Soderburgh’s latest film MagicMike opened at the box office, the bulk of theSaturday night audience was women, plus a couple of brave blokes, no doubt accompanying their womenfolk.

There was a solid crowd for the film that night, not a sell-out by any means, but still a decent turn-out when you consider your options on a wintry Saturday night in B-town.

So there we were, popcorn in hand, ready to feast our eyes on all thatman flesh, and oh, the things we learnt.

Like, just because they’re handsome with chiselled abs and strong jaws, and just because they havemoney thrown at them on a nightly basis, that doesn’t meanmale strippers don’t have problems too.

For example, which will hold more dollar bills— a star spangled banner thong, or the shiny gold lame?

And just how long do you think it takes to de-crumple all those crumpled dollar bills that get shoved into said thong, night after night?

Which is probably why the popularity of the allmale revue in Australia has not reached the dizzying heights of that enjoyed by theirAmerican counterparts; dollar coins.

You will learn the answers to these stripper conundrums and more inSoderburg’s stripping saga.

Starring Channing Tatum,Alex Pettyfer andMatthew McConaughey,MagicMike is based on the real life experiences of Tatum, who worked as a stripper beforemaking it big in Hollywood, or so the story goes.

Let’s be honest, going to the cinema to see amovie aboutmale strippers ‘‘for the plot’’ is akin to claiming you buymen’s magazines, ‘‘for the articles’’— simply not true.

Nevertheless, this being a Soderburg production, there is some semblance of a storyline, and in this instance it revolves around strippers in arms,Mike andAdam.

Tatum playsMike, a humble roofing contractor by day and lusty stripping dynamo by night, whileAdam, played byPettyfer, is a scruffy slacker bouncing from dead-end job to dead-end job in between sleeping on his sister’s couch.

The two cross paths over roofing tiles and the rest is history, stripping history. Circumstances seeAdam— or TheKid— gyrating and thrusting his way onto the stage atXquisite, an allmale stripper revue in Tampa, run by Dallas.

No one sends upMatthew McConaughey better than MatthewMcConaughey, and it’s a good thing too, because inMagic Mike he sends himself up to perfection, playing the role of the ageing, sleazy, stripping patriarch to perfection.

And while there is no end of gratuitous stripping scenes, tight butt cheeks, chiselled abs and gyrating groins, there is also a focus on the seedy side of the industry, booze, drugs and everything in between, even if it is only fleeting.

Scores? Ten out of 10 for scenery, 7/10 for storyline.

David andMargaret never had it so good.