Magic Mike is ready to shake its moneymaker!
The highly anticipated stripper flick, which stars Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello and Alex Pettyfer, has gotten fans up in a tizzy over its mantastic, ab-fab cast and, er, cheeky premise. (The film was inspired by Tatum's erstwhile stripper days.)
Reviews are now starting to roll in, with critics lining up to put in their two cents (or should those be dollar bills?) about director Steven Soderbergh's admittedly risky and risqué flick, which flouts every known Hollywood wisdom.
So do all those family jewels add up to one precious package?
You betcha. Critics are clearly boffo for beefcake, giving props to the flick's subversive role reversal, its nimble direction and the cast's charismatic performances.
- "Arguably the raunchiest, funniest and most enjoyably nonjudgmental American movie about selling sex since Boogie Nights," raves The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney. "Steven Soderbergh taps into the jazzy erotic energy that put him on the map more than 20 years ago with Sex, Lies, and Videotape...There's a looseness and buoyancy to the filmmaking and to the naturalistic performances that keeps the story real, and while many of the key castmembers have relatively little to do, even the smallest roles add texture."
- "Soderbergh is in excellent form here," writes Variety's Peter Debruge, adding that "the film provides just enough character and plot to validate the plentiful pecs and abundant buns that serve as its main attraction...Everything about Soderbergh's approach, from the energy to the music to the nonjudgmental tone, seems to be onboard with stripping."
- "The film is Tatum's and he fills the screen with his easy smile and relaxed flirtation," notes The Playlist's Katie Walsh, who also gives a shout-out to Soderbergh for making "the ultimate male stripper movie" that "just so happens to be a really good film too...Soderbergh has delivered an entertaining and expertly paced film about male stripping that is about more than just stripping, dealing with some universal issues like work and age and money and sex."
- Movieline's Jen Yamato writes that the flick "delivers on raunchy, knowing fun. But it's the deeper themes, captured in an observational style, that really make Magic Mike work as more than just a cheap thrill. It may be a stripper movie, but it's also about economic self-determination and the struggle between art vs. commerce."
- "Another of Soderbergh's nuanced looks at contemporary American life, in specific the economic and emotional toll suffered by folks trying to get ahead," offers Box Office Magazine's Mark Olsen. "The flick is a study of modern economic reality and the rationalizations that get us through the day, acknowledging the glamour and the glitter and sweat required to get us there."