Magic Mike: Abs, Sweat, and Heart

Magic Mike opened to wild applause from the theatre filled with women and a few husbands dragged unexpectedly to the theatre this weekend. While I’m sure all of the women had a grand time, some of the men may have found themselves surprised at the decently crafted story set in the underbelly of the male dancing industry. Unlike many a film about strippers rolled out by the Hollywood machine in decades past, Magic Mike had a touching story full of heart that gyrated genuine emotion and ripped through my low expectations like so many a pair of ass-less chaps.

The plotline of Magic Mike focuses on young veteran male dancer Magic Mike (Channing Tatum) mentoring a recent college drop out Adam (Alex Pettyfer) in the ways of the male stripper after the two become unlikely friends. They work under the tutelage of aging stripper turned small time club owner Dallas (Matthew McConaughey). Dallas knows he’s found a financially savvy keeper in Mike (an entrepreneur saving money to open his own custom furniture business) and is gearing up to move the small Tampa club to the big time in Miami. Meanwhile, Mike befriends Adam’s sister Brooke (Cody Horn) and attempts to strike up a relationship with her. Brooke is the most responsible of the threesome, and urges Mike to take care of her little brother Adam. Although Mike attempts to protect him, Adam just can’t seem to stay out of trouble, and the whole thing turns into a mess. Mike strains his relationship with Dallas, Brooke, and every other superficial acquaintance in his thinly stretched life before culminating in a life changing decision.

While Magic Mike is by no means an amazing movie, it does have more than meets the wandering eye. When male centric movies like The Expendables can get the green light, it’s refreshing to see a movie marketed 100% for women. Don’t be fooled by the previews though, this is not a movie about strippers. It’s a movie about a street savvy young man trying to find his place in the world, who happens to be a stripper. At one point Mike stands defiantly before Horn and states: “I am not my lifestyle.”

The movie moves at a slow malaise of a pace, mostly following the central characters in the late night hours and through the wee hours of the morning. The pacing makes the scant daylight scenes refreshing, and we get to see Mike as he could be if he lived in a less alternative way, doing what he really wants to do with his life.

Ladies will love Tatum’s palpable onscreen chemistry with Horn. They comically jab each other back and forth, in what sometimes feels like completely improvised dialogue. Even their more emotional scenes have a genuine pacing, with both of them talking over each other in a rising symphony of conflicted emotions. The humor in the film is well paced and placed, frequently breaking up the tension between Mike, Adam, and Dallas. And Horn’s quiet searching eyes conveyed disappointment and intrigue with each wandering glance.

Perhaps one of the biggest flaws in the script is the lack of rising action. You never really feel like Mike is in any real danger, and his needs are not very pressing. He’s very intelligent, never short on money, is working efficiently and effectively toward a higher life goal (although he’s having some trouble getting the bank loan to achieve it) and the writing on the wall says that eventually Brooke is going to fall for him. Even when drug dealers break into his house to steal money for an indiscretion Adam never paid back, Mike easily solves the issue by forking over some of his investment money without having a hair on anyone’s head harmed. For Mike, his conflict is an inner one. Even with a big pile of sweaty money, endless stream of women, nice cars, and homes; he’s unhappy and unfulfilled. For a casual moviegoer, this may be enough to hold our attention. But if Magic Mike ever hoped of being a film with any resonance, it needed to showcase its central characters as inherently flawed and place him amidst a real conflict and see how he would react.

Magic Mike is going to make boatloads of cash. If the lines of women of all ages, shapes, and sizes are any indication of the potential of the film, expect it to make back it’s investment many times over. It’s a fresh idea, and marketed well. But many people will be surprised to find that the film is not the hooting and hollering striptease that it advertises. Beneath it’s sweaty leather clad exterior, Magic Mike is a story about a thirty-something trying to move to a stage in life without spotlights and crumpled dollar bills.