Mike (Channing Tatum) wants to start his own small business making custom furniture but no one wants to give him a small business loan. Thus he gets by on a number of odd jobs, including performing at the Xquisite Strip Club in Tampa. At his daytime construction job, he befriends Adam (Alex Pettyfer) and eventually gets him a job at Xquisite. The club’s owner (Matthew McConaughey) and the rest of the club performers take a liking to the new guy. As Adam plunges deeper into the world of excess at his fingertips, Mike does his best to watch over him while constantly trying to smooth things over with Adam’s disapproving sister.
As if you had to guess, this film is almost purely a guilty pleasure. Yes, there are plenty of rowdy scenes where buff men spin, strut, and shed themselves of clothing, but this sort of thing can be easily found on the internet for free. In order to get these sorts of antics to the big screen, the filmmakers try to wrap some kind of plot around these moments of debauchery. It’s a fictionalized and (hopefully) sensationalized version of Channing Tatum’s experiences as a male stripper before he made it as an actor.
If I were a betting man, I would be willing to make a very large wager that most of the women who went to see this film went for the strip club scenes. Those women did not go home disappointed, as every scene inside the club possesses tremendous amounts of energy and silly fun. All the ‘story’ elements outside the strip club fall flat because they are both poorly written and acted. It’s easy for a bunch of men to get silly and prance around in their skivvies (though major kudos the actors and choreographers for the ‘dance’ numbers). Acting like a real, convincing human being is hard work.
Even though the story is about Adam and Mike, Matthew McConaughey’s frenetic club owner character steals the show every time he turns up. He is a ruthless businessman, intent on getting rich off bigger and better strip clubs. His obsession with physique, training, and the rules of the game contrast starkly with his cocky ringleader shtick during show time. Here is the only fully formed character in the film. Mike is basically a lunkhead who lacks the ambition to really go out on his own, and Adam is just a brat who finds a way to make life a non-stop party. McConaughey’s Dallas is so real, yet so over the top that you are mesmerized by him.
Having no experience in strip clubs (male or female) myself, one element was an eye-opener. Everyone knows that strip clubs for men serve one purpose: cheap sexual thrills where a man can sink deep into a sea of lust. Interestingly enough, it seems that women go to male strip clubs because it’s a silly bunch of fun. It’s not for the sexuality, but for the social experience. This comes through even with the routines and intentions of the male ‘dancers.’ I’ve seen Showgirls and the difference between the ‘dancing’ at the respective strip clubs cannot be anymore stark. While I find any aspect of the sex industry to be immoral and unnecessary to society, I can take some solace in knowing that the patrons of male strip clubs aren’t likely to be as depraved as those attending so-called “gentlemen’s” clubs.
As for the movie, feel free to watch the whole thing. There is nothing remarkable about any of the technical aspects outside of the performance numbers and the romance sub-plot is boring. You could save yourself some time and fast-forward through these slow parts and have a great time. Forget the forced plot and just imagine that it’s Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey, and a bunch of other actors getting silly and mostly naked. It’s lewd and crude, but it’s not a sausage fest, which makes it perfectly acceptable for straight men to watch Magic Mike with their significant other.
RATING: 2.75 out of 5
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