Hard Femme : DVD Review: Magic Mike (oh yeaaaaahhhsssss)

The movie centers around a motivated, hard working young man named
Mike who does a favor for a down and out friend named Adam, who can't seem to land a job. He introduces him to his night job at an all-male strip club, Xquisite. Adam soon discovers that Mike is "Magic Mike", the club's number one performer. Adam, lured in by the ease of fast money and female attention agrees to join the club. But the world of stripping is not what it seems, fraught with violence, drugs, alcohol and dangerous women. It really is a simple "be careful what you wish for"/"fall from grace" type story, at its core. Take one young innocent plus temptation plus wise older mage type plus taste of death equals redemption, but the story isn't really about that. It's Mike's story and he, despite being an exotic dancer with a taste for bisexuals, is a vulnerable person looking for honest love and a way out of the business to start his furniture company. He falls in love with Adam's sister who shows him a life out of the endless party life that he has led.

Now i'm not going to bullshit you. If you like sexy ass men shaking their be-thonged buttcheeks at you while also getting a story about a young man trying to do good, this is the movie for you. If you like more... meat... with your movies, then maybe its not for you. I came for the butts and stayed for the butts. I wasn't disappointed. Channing Tatum can dance like crazy and that's really nice to watch, if you like that sort of thing. I must admit I have been to a few male strip shows and this depiction of a packed club with screaming housewives waving fat stacks of cash at men who basically dry hump them is fairly accurate. It shouldn't be a surprise, since the screenplay was based on Channing Tatum's former life as a male dancer.

The movie is by director Steven Soderbergh, who made Haywire, Contagion, The Girlfriend Experience (starring Sasha Grey, yes that Sasha Grey), oh and all the Ocean's Eleven movies nbd. He is known as being a director that is fearless and not afraid of experimentation and I think is one of the most underrated directors of our time (next to every single female director in the world). I would give one of his films a try since no two are the same it might give you a new favorite director.

All in all, Magic Mike is a simple story about who you are versus what you do with penis bulges oiled pecs and Matthew McConaughey in assless chaps. If you want a movie to watch with your girlfriends or a boy's night in, its a great slumber party movie. Light and predictable but plenty of pretty to distract you from it's heavy morality tale plot line.