MRwM - Magic Mike

Warning: The following review contains spoilers as well as crazy opinions. To avoid being spoiled, ONLY READ what is in bold format. Any font that is not bolded MAY CONTIAN SPOILERS.

Movie Reviews by Moonpie
This Episode: MAGIC MIKE

First Impressions

I took one look at this movie and said "Oh no, this movie's gonna hurt" I mean what can I say? It's all centered around one premise; CHANNING TATUM IS A MALE STRIPPER. Saying that alone gets the attention of most females.
The story is about Mike Lane who works at a male strip club with his friend Dallas. One night, Mike accidently recruits a slacking kid named Adam into the work of stripping, where Dallas agrees seeing the kid's popularity among the women. As Adam gets a taste of a performer's life, and Mike form a relationship with his sister, Brooke, Mike's life takes a wild ride in both good and bad ways.
Believe it or not, the idea came from the fact that Tatum WAS a male stripper as a teen before becoming the Tatum that we know today.
As a movie in whole, it almost works. It's almost a great movie to watch with friends, but it's just about average. And I'm not including the fact of fanservice when I say that. I am going to stay calm in this review and not go all fangirl. Yep, you know it's coming…
I PROMISE THAT IN THIS REVIEW, I WILL STOP WRITING WHEN I AM BECOMING TOO EXCITED AND I WILL COOL MYSELF DOWN SO I CAN CONTINUE. I PROMISE TO BE FAIR WITH THIS REVIEW AS WELL AS PAST/FUTURE REVIEWS
So let's jump into what made this movie so good/bad.

THE BAD

The Unfitting Music
This happens a lot in the movie and this is where it gets distracting. I don't mean the music that the stripper's strip to. That is obviously supposed to be there. I mean the other music where it almost comes out of nowhere and has nothing to do with what's going on.
It's like someone has the remote and switched from the movie to MTV. The first time it happens, you don't really care, but by the fourth time, you'll wish it stayed that way. There's just no point to it at all except to let people know that this song will be on the album.

The Plot
This is where the movie hurts. There is very little plot in Magic Mike and what plot THERE IS is underdeveloped. It's like the movie doesn't know what it wants to focus on at these parts, so it throws in some subplots and hopes no one notices. Pick SOMETHING and develop it.
I mean, it starts out with Mike wanting to run a business, but we hardly discuss it. He's in a rocky relationship with THREE different women, but we don't address anything more than the friendship he has with Brooke most the time. Dallas and Mike want to move the club, but that's only addressed when there's nothing else to talk about. There's Tobias giving drugs to Adam, but that comes almost out of nowhere.
Well, actually that's a lie. They make a brief intro to it at the beginning, leave it alone for a few scenes and then bring it up again as a major plot point. But for the most part, not much was building up to it, so it's kind of a letdown. And by the time Mike sacrifices his money to bust Adam out, we had forgotten what he planned to do with it in the first place.
This plot is a big mess used only when there isn't man service flashing in your face. I wouldn't mind it so much if it was a little more developed but as a movie critic, it just hurts.

The Side Characters
Aside from Mike, Adam, and Brooke, we know little to nothing about the other side characters. Dallas too I guess, but you'll see my rant on him in a minute. As for the others, there are just so many unanswered questions about it.
Why did the other strippers become strippers? Are they all okay with the big move or do they change? Why does Tobias trust Adam with the drugs after knowing him only a few weeks? How does Joanna feel about Brooke and Mike?
It's just another big mess. But most of all, these characters are underdeveloped and don't get any better as the movie continues. They could fix this either two ways. Give the characters (not all of them at least a few) some character or have them appear less in the film.

Dallas
Ughhhhhhh…. We all know it's Mathew McConaughey playing himself again. I mean my gosh can he play anything else but a douchebag? Dallas doesn't start off as a jerk. At first he seems like just a cocky (no pun intended) leader of a strip club. But we can all tell it's McConaughey in his usual role.
He has a friendship with Mike and it is clear. But as the movie goes on, he suddenly falls into the big clichés of a bully/jerk/bad guy/greedy guy. I mean it happens way too quickly. One minute he's talking to Mike about how the two of them will rule the world, and literally the next scene he's bossing Mike around saying there's nothing more important than business. It makes a good antagonist but only when its good character. If he had slowly became a jerk instead of quickly it would have been a little tragic, and that's kind of cool once in a while. Instead we're stuck with McConaughey playing bad McConaughy.
And do I even have to mention his solo stripping scene at the very end of the movie? WE GET IT MCCONAUGHEY. C'mon!

THE GOOD

The Fanservice
This is what the movie is all about, so of course this is going to be good. It's not just the stripping alone, but every other shot in the movie almost has you drooling.
Let's talk about the stripping first. OF COURSE it's great. Girls are screaming, money is being tossed, and orgasms are raging everywhere. I'm not talking about the set of the strip club. I'm talking about the audience of this movie. It is excellent and I expected nothing less.
Outside of the obvious stripping, everything else was well-played. We go backstage A LOT and see how the men prepare for the show. And yes we see every. Single. Detail. Very well don't with that pump scene too teeheehee.
It is obvious that this movie needs to keep the audience focus when the real show isn't going on. They do this insanely good. I mean the first shot we get of Mike is him waking up naked and his bare ass walking into the bathroom. HIS BARE ASS! That was literally the first shot of our protagonist and yet they keep adding more and more fansrervice. Just when you think you're done, they add a little more. Trust me when I tell you to bring an extra pair of underwear to the show. You're going to need it.

The Choreography
This kiiiiinda falls under the fanservice bit, but I'm putting it separately for the fact that it's only in the performances and not the all-around movie. When the men have to get up and do their thing, it is very well done. It's almost like being at a real strip club. The way they move, the way they dance, the way they look into the camera: these guys know what they are doing. They want to please the fans on and off set.
Even Adam's choreography is well done. I don't mean when he's dancing through most of the film. I mean when he is literally thrown on the stage at the last minute. You can tell he's an unsure, timid, inexperienced kid who has no idea what to do or what he's doing. And he pulls it off too well.
Trust me, if male strip clubs were this well organized in real life, then they would have a much bigger business than they do now. …not that I know what kind of business a male strip club has anyway….

The Camerawork
These cameramen knew EXACTLY what they were doing when they filmed this movie. They knew how to get the shots just right and how to make the fans scream. Every movie, every angle, every shot is just one where you can't take your eyes away. Even in a few shots there's hidden fanservice, but they stay on the shot for a long time so everyone gets in on the joke. I don't think there could be a better example from grabbing the audience's attention in all the shots.
Even when there's not much stripping or fanservice going on the shots are still interesting. They keep the pace and the flow of the movie going so we can tell what's going on. It's relaxed when it needs to be and wild when it needs to be. It works out nearly perfectly. I know I made a rant about the music earlier, but even then it worked. IF  any of those scenes were music videos, then they would be well directed.
Props to the camerawork on this movie. It's pretty friggin' impressive.

The Advertising/Idea
You see it in the previews, trailers and all throughout the movie. THIS IS ABOUT FANSERVICE. The movie isn't going to focus on anything else but the male stripping and it is okay with that.
The weird thing is that, as an audience, we're okay with that too. The movie only wants to appeal to our horny side and we are all okay with that. As long as we get some fanservice we honestly don't care what happens the rest of the film. It's a less-than-average film making lots of money because of that one element.
Well played Soderbergh. Well played.

Other Notes
-I wish they gave Gabriel Iglesias some more screen time. When he was cracking jokes, it was hilarious and that's his element. Don't take that away from him.
-I should warn you, the drug scenes get a little weird but nothing you can't handle.
-Does anyone know if Big D*** Richie's thing was… real? I mean… WOW.

IS THE MOVIE WORTH IT?

...Yes. I mean go see it because I guarantee it is cheaper than going to a real male strip club, but has all the fanservice. Yes the plot is very underdeveloped and yes the characters are a little bland, but that's not the focus. The focus is that this is all kinky fanservice and the movie knows that as well, so they use that to their advantage. However if manservice isn't your thing, then go ahead and skip it.

YOU SHOULD SEE THE MOVIE IF…

-You like man candy! Isn't that obvious?
-You don't care for plot.
-You are a Mathew McConaughey fan.
-You are a Channing Tatum fan.

For the best experience, don't see this movie alone. See this movie with some friends so you can make some fun commentary. If it's still in theaters by now (Even a cheap theater) go see it there. If not, then find a big screen and great audio system. Again, it's not a terrific movie, but nobody's going to pay attention to that. The movie is aware of that, the characters are aware of that, and YOU are aware of that. So who cares? I don't have to say anything else about the movie because no one is going to remember it for anything else but the male stripping. Feel free to enjoy the man candy.