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| No, really, it's exactly what you think it is. Photo: Warner Bros. |
SPOILER ALERT: If you don't want to know any details about plot or casting, stop reading now.
T: What did you think of the highly anticipated Magic Mike?
Marja: Well it's not going to win any Oscars for writing...
Marja: But Joe M.'s penis deserves a screen credit of it's own
T: AHAHA! The penis pump and dangling penis shot were hilarious.
Marja: Spoiler alert! You need to save that one for the audience. I nearly thought the sweet little old lady couple in front of me was going to spit out their hard candies in shock!
T: Yes the story was cliche, but I'll still give the movie a high rating for one reason: Channing Tatum.
Marja: The real break-out stars in this one were Channing and McConaughey. I've never been a Channing Tatum fan, but now I'm a total convert. I'll be renting Step it Up this weekend ... what that kid does with his hips is inhuman. Have you ever seen a straight man move that way?
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| The Village People got nothin' on these himbos. Photo: Warner Bros. |
T: Welcome to the club. I had no idea you hadn't seen Step Up (Step it Up sounds like a movie featuring Queen Latifah). This movie should come with a warning label: Channing's Grinding Hips During "My Pony" May Lead to Unexpected Moistening or Embarrassing Erections. And yes, McConaughey's vanity-free performance was incredible.
Marja: Oh, it's Step Up? Sorry... I must be critically behind on my white-girl-want-to-dance-like-a-black-girl-chick-flicks.
Marja: McConaughey was brilliant. He pulls of smarmy without a hitch. So well in fact, you wonder if he's just playing himself. His finale dance was so effortlessly pompous that I didn't for a moment doubt that he gets far more mirror time during love making than his wife.
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| Officer? Gentleman? Does it even matter when I'm this hot? Suck it, Blaine. Photo: Warner Bros. |
Marja: Well let's talk about his love interest...
T: Channing's love interest? Are you talking about the wooden lass that graduated from the Kristen Stewart School of Acting?
Marja: Oh lord was she stiff. And not in the way a movie about strippers should be "stiff." I just didn't get her character at all. It was like Pretty Woman in reverse... she the cranky stick-up-her-ass professional, and Channing the charming whore. Garry Marshall should sue for a percentage of this flick!
T: I liked the wooden actress simply because she did seem charmed by Tatum's character, Magic Mike, and who wouldn't be?
Marja: How about how packed that theatre was?! On a Friday at 10:00 a.m.?!
T: Yup that theatre was packed with women, two husbands with their horny wives, and two gays. After the show, the custodians had no trouble telling where the four men sat in the theatre because those were the only dry seats...with the possible exception of Orange Gay Joey’s. He seemed squirmish.
Marja: Yup. I think I stepped in a puddle under Amy's seat on the way out.
Marja: But seriously... for me this movie was just one "wait till the next dance scene" after the next. All the filler in between was uninteresting and slowed the pace down. McConaughey provide a bit of spark and energy off stage, but the real soul of this film was the dance sequences. The group choreography was deliciously cheesy and Channing's final solo was a legitimate stage performance. It just happened to be in ass-less chaps...
T: I agree on most of that but disagree about movie dragging. I liked the stuff in between. I thought Channing was preposterously likable, danced like he was engineered to do so, and I love how Steven Soderbergh gave the film an old fashioned look. I also thought four of the other strippers, including Joe Mangnionolloilloolo's chest, were really hot.
Marja: I have to note that the art direction was interesting and the cinematographer really went for it with unique POV shots. They must have hired Breaking Bad's director.
T: Soderbergh was also the cinematographer, but he used a pseudonym.
Final thoughts
Marja: There are certainly some points in this film where you can see they are trying to take themselves seriously, but it really works best when they just laugh along. I would give it a solid B+ and that's generous considering the paper thin recycled story line.
T: There wasn't much story...but i still give it an A- or B+. We are ridiculous. Such high grades although we both agree the story was cliche. Also of note, of the six persons that saw the matinee, all six gave favorable reviews. Amy is STILL talking about having Channing Tatum's baby.
Trailer
