Magic Mike (2012)

Magic Mike is one of those many films that I could guess the plot exactly before I saw it. I don't know if its because its super predictable or if I've seen too many movies. Anyways, here is how I predicted how the film would go down before I saw it: Popular guy with pretty good life turns into a Disney princess because he wants "something more" in his life than what he's use to. He meets girl, falls in love with girl but is torn between his life and girl. He (shockingly) picks girl with limited personality instead of pretty good life and they all live happily ever after. That was my prediction BEFORE I saw the movie.

I won't spoiler the actual film but here's what its about: Magic Mike (Channing Tatum) is a construction worker by day and male stripper by night. He meets pretty boy Adam (Alex Pettyfer) who lives with his sister, Brooke (Cody Horn) at work and gets Adam a stripping job at the strip joint owned by Dallas ("I see a lot of law breakers"...must a say HIS name?). Romantic fireworks explode between characters and Adam gets into trouble along the way.

Here's how I'm going to analyze:

Story: All I can about the story is that it is your typical romantic 21st century Hollywood film. You can predict the whole movie and ending very easily.

Characters: These characters were walking cardboards. Mike, Adam, Brooke, Joanna, Norah, even Tarzan, etc HAD NO PERSONALITY! The character that was somewhat interesting was Dallas and he stripped the least (sorry ladies). I could've cared less what happened to these characters because there was no depth to them and I didn't feel attached to them at all. We've seen these clichéd characters a million times.

Acting: I hated to judge this part because there isn't much to judge. The acting is...mediocre at best. Channing Tatum plays the role he plays in every film of his: the good guy with little personality. I feel Tatum CAN really act but he needs to expand his range like Johnny Depp does or Heath Ledger use to. Adam Pettyfer has tried to expand his range (like in "Beastly")but the kid, as good looking as he is, just can't act. Cody Horn was the weakest link. She'll probably be the next Julia Stiles, meaning she'll be cast in the same role in every film (good films probably) next to good looking guys even though she can't act.

These are the only things to critique on. The directing, music, editing, etc are not focused on at all. The only song in the film I could remember was "Its Raining Men". The directing had some shaky camera. I remember that. The visuals were...okay. If you like naked men.

Overall, the film was..."eh". I was bored through most of it and I left the theater with no intentions to ever see it again. I gave the film three stars out of ten. The film needed more "magic" in storytelling and originality then "Mike" just being your typical Hollywood dream guy that doesn't really exist.