The premise follows Mike Lane (Channing Tatum), who in addition to stripping, works construction, owns an auto-detailing business, and dreams of starting his own custom furniture business. He meets Adam, (Alex Pettyfer) on a construction site, and through a series of extraordinary events, Pettyfer gets literally pushed onstage and introduced to the world of grabby women and easy singles. For Mike, stripping is something he does because it’s easy work and good money. But when he introduces similarly Adam to the life, Adam starts to see that lifestyle as the thing.
Steven Soderburgh's direction is steady as always and relatively low key outside of the stripping scenes. The performances are solid across the board, with the exception of Matthew McConaughey, who goes for broke with his character Dallas and overwhelmingly succeeds (I can't recall the last time I so thoroughly enjoyed watching an actor chew scenery). But the real reason I love this film is that it, for all it's male stripper window dressing, it posing a genuinely difficult question: How long you can do something that benefits you before it becomes you? Better still, Mike doesn't cheapen it by offering up easy answers.
Magic Mike is your classic bait and switch, but with a slight twist. It's not often that you’re baited with fluff and presented with profound, but such is the case of Channing Tatum's male stripper opus, and quite frankly, I believe we're better for it. If you're confident in your sexuality looking for a movie that will give your girlfriend (or maybe yourself) some eye candy while also delivering a solid think piece, then be sure to check it out next movie-night.
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