"Magic Mike" really can be described as two movies in one: first there's the male strip-show that you expect from the previews with hot guys (Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Joe Manganiello, Matt Bomer, Adam Rodriguez, Kevin Nash) dancing and second is the in-depth investigation of the life of male strippers that covers the typical "empty" life of partying, sex, drinking, drugs, and excess. The film focuses on the star of a male revue named Mike (Tatum) called "Magic Mike" onstage. Mike meets and begins to mentor Adam (Pettyfer) in the ways of male stripping, which doesn't set well with Adam's sister Brooke (Cody Horn). Though Mike is casually seeing Joanna (Olivia Munn), he is attracted to Brooke and promises to keep her brother safe. However, Adam (also called "The Kid") becomes immersed in the whole scene and soon makes a deal with the show's DJ to sell drugs on the side. Mike begins to see through Adam's immersion and his interactions with Brooke that he wants something more for himself.
I described this film as having two-faces since I feel like a lot of the advertising promotes the film as this fun, party-type movie about male strippers. There is that element but the storyline is really focused on Mike mentoring Adam and Mike discovering that he wants something more for himself by seeing his lifestyle through Brooke's eyes. It's the typical "empty" life of a stripper theme but it works here as the audience clearly sees through Adam's transformation from wide-eyed boy to the next headliner. I'm just not sure there's really any new ground here except that this movie is about male strippers rather than female.
The acting in this film is all over the place. I felt Tatum was pretty on the money in his role but Pettyfer and Horn really were dull. There just wasn't anything about Horn's portrayal that made me believe that Mike would be interested in Brooke. Pettyfer just seemed a bit too aloof. The scene-stealer of the film is Matthew McConaughey as the owner of the male revue and former stripper himself. McConaughey is slick and entertaining in all his scenes.
My advice is to only rent this one if you want to see not only the fun, dancing scenes but also follow the storyline as well (the mentor/mentee story where the teacher becomes the student). C-
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