Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (May 12, 2024)
Nearly 25 years into his directorial career, Steven Soderbergh continued to confound expectations with his cinematic choices. Today’s example: 2012’s Magic Mike, a drama about the world of male strippers.
Set in Tampa, we meet Mike (Channing Tatum), a true jack-of-all-trades. He runs his own mobile detailing business, creates unique furniture to sell, works construction – and spends nights at a local club as exotic dancer “Magic Mike”.
At a building site, Mike meets Adam (Alex Pettyfer), an unmotivated slacker content to sleep on his sister Brooke’s (Cody Horn) couch and work odd jobs. On a night out, Adan bumps into Mike and finds out about the latter’s evening job.
Confronted with the prospect of easy money and endless tail, Alex agrees to join the gang as their newest stripper. We follow their growing friendship and the way their lives evolve as Adam embraces the nightlife and Mike starts to think he needs something more from his existence.
I ended up at a theatrical screening of Magic over its summer release, which occurred completely due to the Soderbergh Factor. I respected the director enough that I gave his work a look even when I didn’t find myself particularly interested in the subject matter.
Mike hinted that might’ve needed to stop. Actually, Soderbergh’s last two films pre-Magic - 2011’s Contagion and early 2012’s Haywire - looked intriguing regardless of Soderbergh’s involvement, even if his presence simply added a touch of prestige. Unfortunately, neither movie did much for me.
Despite the fact it came with the topic that appeals least to me, Magic probably works the best of these three flicks, though that’s semi-faint praise, as I don’t think highly of the picture. It’s not a bad flick, but it consistently seems ordinary and unremarkable.
The main problem emanates from the lackluster narrative and simplistic characters. Based loosely on Tatum’s own experiences, we don’t get a great sense of honesty or verisimilitude here.
Instead, we find a predictable tale of a guy who needs to grow up and take charge of his life. That doesn’t become anything we’ve not seen 1000 times already.
Soderbergh brings more style to the film than most others would, but he doesn’t do enough to elevate the pedestrian material. Essentially Magic often feels like a series of stripper scenes with a movie built around them.
That clearly turned into the flick’s selling point – it didn’t attract throngs of women because they cared about character development – but the nightclub sequences make the film drag. They feel pretty non-essential, as they do little to nothing to advance the characters or situations.
I think we could live with a taste of them but not as much as we get. The stripping shots fill nearly 20 minutes of screen time.
I suppose one could make similar claims about the dance scenes in Saturday Night Fever. However, I think those tell us something about the characters, and some shots help with the story as well.
For instance, we need to see the “climactic” dance contest to understand why Tony felt it was rigged. Without visuals to support the tale, his actions wouldn’t make much sense.
Nothing similar occurs in Magic. In this film, the stripping scenes feel like they’re there for basic titillation.
I suspect that’s the case. Like I said, the movie made lots of money due to its appeal as a “Girls Night Out”.
But that doesn’t mean they succeed in cinematic terms, and the meandering narrative doesn’t help. Though it mostly focuses on Mike, the film branches off to Adam’s story enough that it loses its way.
Indeed, after a while, you start to think Adam will become the main character. However, as the film goes, he becomes less and less essential to the point where he feels like little more than a plot device.
And a jerky one at that. While we might expect Magic to give us some growth/improvement in Adam via the standard “coming of age” story, instead the opposite occurs.
Adam goes down the nightlife rabbit hole and never gains redemption, so by the film’s end, we dislike him and view him as wholly irresponsible and selfish. Perhaps this happens to make Mike more endearing as a contrast, but it still seems like a bad choice.
As for the actors, they seem generally fine, though I prefer Tatum in comedy. He does great in light fare but appears ess impressive when placed in dramatic territory.
Perhaps that’s why Magic works best in its first act when it gives us a perkier take on its subject/characters. Once the movie goes darker, it falters.
Ultimately, Magic Mike never goes off the rails enough to qualify as a bad film, but it doesn’t come together in a way that makes it satisfying. With a meandering story, dull characters and a general lack of focus, it’s not an especially entertaining ride.
