Magic Mike (2012) / US / Out on DVD now / Directed by Steven Soderbergh / Written by Reid Carolin / Starring Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey, Alex Pettyfer, Olivia Munn, Cody Horn, Joe Manganiello and Matt Bomer / 110 mins.
Magic Mike is probably the most curiously handled (or mishandled, as I'd put it) movie of the year. I really wish I could have seen this film from the 'other side', and really understand what all of the non-movie-devouring expected from this movie. When it first came out on DVD, the most popular status adorning my Facebook newsfeed was "OMG I can't wait to see Magic Mike!" A little while later, there were statuses scattered around saying "Magic Mike was pretty disappointing." I am actually yet to meet someone face-to-face who has a positive spin on the film. However, I've always known it to be a Steven Soderbergh film, and while he's made plenty of mainstream films, judging by his most recent films like Haywire, The Informant! and The Girlfriend Experience, I couldn't see how Magic Mike would be a really nice comedy about male strippers. So I was actually surprised by how much male stripping there was in this movie. I've heard it said that the marketing for this movie was genius - pushing that male stripper thing out there and making this look like a fun, wild ride through stripper-dom, complete with a trailer yielding a feel-good Rihanna song to make sure every woman on Earth buys a ticket. No doubt, this indie film managed to become a mega-hit, but there's no matter when the people who buy the ticket don't like the film. They didn't get what they expected, but I ended up getting more than I expected. It is curious, isn't it?
