Magic Mike Movie Review

The title Magic Mike (2012) probably stirs up mixed feelings in viewers. A movie about male strippers is probably going to appeal a lot more to women viewers than it will to men. Magic Mike is very like most "backstage" movies where we get to see the ugly side of what is otherwise seen as a glamorous industry; so mostly-naked men aside, it has potential to tell a good story.

Mike Lane (Channing Tatum) is a thirty-year old living in Tampa, Florida. By Day he works as a roofer whilst at night, as Magic Mike, he is the star attraction of the Kings of Tampa, a group of male strippers. Secretly he wants out in order to further a projected furniture-making business, but his credit rating precludes a bank loan for this despite his considerable savings. One night, Adam (Alex Pettyfer), a teen-aged work-mate of Mike, follows him to the club and, when one of the acts is unable to go on, he is convinced to strip - becoming a huge hit. However success goes to his head and his foolish actions not only threaten to jeopardize the relationship that his sister Brooke (Cody Horn) is forming with Mike, but with Mike's ambitions as well.

When I saw the previews for Magic Mike I was actually excited to see it. Not that I was anxious to see male strippers, but rather see a movie about fulfillment, self-actualization, and self-esteem from the perspective of sex icons. I think that has a lot of potential to be a fascinating story; a man who is basically adored and wanted by every woman who sees him, who fulfills their fantasies, but it's not a fulfilling life for him, dreams of doing something that is markedly unglamorous yet something he is passionate about. Magic Mike is in part based on Channing Tatum's experiences as  a male stripper before he got his start in acting. I would have thought he could provide more insight into the movie's characters and problems. Maybe he did, but they still seemed like predictable characters and conflicts.

In spite of the predictable characters and conflicts, I thought the dialogue was pretty well written. I genuinely liked the way Mike talked with Brooke; he was flirtatious, playful, smooth talking, and confident. Heck, I wish I had the presence of mind to talk to women that way. Mike has a few funny lines like, "Oh, you don't wanna know what I have to do for twenties." Matthew McConaughey plays Dallas, the charismatic stage manager and veteran stripper himself. He rents a club, pays for costumes and production, and allows his dancers to keep their own tips. He's the first one we see on stage, and pointing at his naughty bits asks the ladies if they'd like to touch them, then wags his finger saying, "No, no, NO, no!" It doesn't sound like a great scene, but think how easily that sort of scene could go wrong. Playing a hard-headed businessman who understands his product and his audience is probably one of McConaughey's better performances.

I've got to hand it to these actors; they do a pretty good job dancing. I didn't necessarily want to watch mostly naked men cavorting about on stage, but they do a pretty good job. Tatum, in particular is impressive; I would never have guessed that this large, bulky man could move like he does in the Magic Mike. He didn't have a dancing double, that was really him throwing down those slick moves; I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that's because of his experience in the industry. The choreographed dance scenes were actually pretty impressive if the muscle-bound shirtless men aren't too off putting for you.

I don't want to oversimplify Magic Mike, but roughly the first half was about mostly a series of male strip dances that were strung together by a scenes of young people out having fun being young people. It wasn't all that interesting, to be frank. The movie becomes progressively darker and we see how easily the industry can destroy a person. Whether you're a man or woman, making money by allowing people to push cash in your g-string is demeaning. Drugs and sex seep their way in and can leave people in ruins. I'm glad that Magic Mike shows us the drug-fueled depravity in unforgiving detail; when you sleep with a girl who has a pet piglet and wake up with the little guy eating your vomit, it's safe to say you've hit rock bottom. Mike does not do this, of course. This was Adam, and the repercussions not only hurt himself, but his friends and family. I'm impressed that Magic Mike did this so poignantly.

I was hoping for some kind of Dead Poets Society meets Coyote Ugly when I saw Magic Mike. While it didn't live up to my expectations, it wasn't really a bad movie. It does a better job of mixing Chippendale-style guilty pleasures with reality-based cautionary tales than you would expect. This is a pretty mature movie, though, particularly with the brutally honest drug usage. Most of the nudity actually comes from female characters, though you will see several thong-clad man hinies. There's a reason it's rated R. I can't honestly recommend Magic Mike unless you want an excuse to see some beefcake men tear off their clothes without actually getting a porn flick.

Magic Mike and Coyote Ugly are good examples of "backstage" movies that show us the ugly side of a glamorous industry. What are some other good "backstage" movies? I don't want to miss anything good.

The Help Movie Review

I enjoy watching movies of simpler times, and of romanticized decades of the early-to-mid-1900s. Occasionally I let myself daydream of living in such times. Then I see a movie like The Help (2011) which makes me realize that these “simpler times” were rife with their own sets of problems. These problems are often downplayed or even ignored in movies for the sake of depicting a sense of nostalgia.

During Civil Rights era Mississippi, Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan (Emma Stone) is a southern society girl who returns from college determined to become a writer. She gets a job writing a cleaning column for her home town’s newspaper, and seeks the advice from one of the local African-American maids. Between observing how the wealthy white families treat their hired help and being told that the nanny who basically raised Skeeter spontaneously moved to Chicago without notice, Skeeter sets out to write a book about the perspective of the black maids and nannies that are so obviously mistreated. She gains the trust of Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) and later Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer), a nanny and a maid respectively, and sets about anonymously writing their stories and opinions about working for white people. Skeeter’s perspective on things change and before the story is even sent to the publishers, the whole town has a thing or two to say as they become unwittingly, even unwillingly, caught up in the changing times. The town’s racist, snooty social ringleader Hilly Holbrook (Bryce Dallas Howard) is bent on stopping the stories from becoming public knowledge for the sake of her own reputation and to keep the hired help where she believes their place is.

I’ve reviewed a couple of movies that are set in the 1960’s; Hairspray and X-Men: First Class both depict a fun and exciting vision of the 1960’s. Even Panic in Year Zero had an innocent, Leave It to Beaver sort of quality to it. On one hand, The Help reminds us of the civil rights movement as well as the gross inequality and injustice that were prevalent in the day. But on the other hand, The Help also seems to downplay the pain and widespread suffering of the day, similar to how Hairspray did. The Help is a story about pain, but it seems to avoid actually being painful. Really, we don’t typically go to the movies to see abrasive truths, we like feel-good movies. The Help certainly is a feel good movie with intermittent moments of uncomfortable reality. Still, it takes place in racially segregated Mississippi.

The feel-good quality of The Help doesn’t make it a bad movie, though. It’s well written, and very well acted! The characters were either generic or unique. Hilly isn’t very different from Hairspray’s Velma Von Tussle, and Skeeter is another single girl trying to make it big just like CoyoteUgly’s Violet Sanford. Where the movie really shines is in Aibileen and Minny’s characters. I can’t think of another character that is as downtrodden in quiet sorrow and still shows genuine love for the children under her care like Aibileen. I also can’t think of another character that is as amusingly vindictive and even vengeful towards her own oppressors while still trying to help and teach them the way Minny is. Both Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer stole the show in any scene they happened to be in. They were great!

I couldn’t help but get caught up in the story and become invested in the characters. It was well written and well acted. The sets and costumes were spot on. There was a brief scene in a grocery store. Even it looked like it was taken out of the 1960’s with all the products in 60’s style packaging and everything illuminated with a dull glow from the halogen fixtures above. There was lots of loving detail that went into The Help.

Even though it was a lengthy film at two hours and twenty six minutes, it’s still good. There are some shocking scenes, some funny scenes, touching scenes, and sad scenes. The movie isn’t going to appeal to everyone. You probably won’t enjoy it if you don’t like dramas in general. In spite of good intentions, I felt like some of the characters had subtle bits of racial stereotyping woven in from time to time. It’s subtle, so I didn’t find it terribly offensive. At any rate, I enjoyed The Help. It’s worth seeing if you don’t mind long drama films. It may even be worth buying a copy of should you find it to be entertaining enough. I might do that.

What's your favorite historical movie? Not necessarily a drama; X-Men: First Class was an action movie, after all. Comment below and tell me why!

Coyote Ugly Movie Review

I am of the opinion that movies categorized as “romantic comedy” have to add the “comedy” modifier to them to ensure that people will see the movie. While I do enjoy a genuinely romantic story, most romance movies are so sappy and melodramatic they are nearly unwatchable. But as far as romantic comedies go, Coyote Ugly (2000) wasn’t half bad.

An aspiring 20-something songwriter named Violet Sanford (Piper Perabo) moves to New York City with dreams of making it big. Her father (John Goodman) begrudgingly lets her go, fearing for her safety. Working with the music industry proves much more difficult than Violet realized. Needing to support herself until stardom rolls around, Violet gets a “day” job as a barmaid at a nightclub called Coyote Ugly. Coyote Ugly is the city’s newest hot spot where the owner Lil (Maria Bello) and the employees are a team of sexy, resourceful women that dance on the bar, flirt with the mostly male clientele, sing along with the jukebox, and goad the customers into matching them shot for shot.

How many movies have there been about someone from a small town going to the big city with dreams of success and stardom? I’ll bet you can think of at least three off the top of your head without much effort. On top of that, there are countless other movies where a poor young lady is being crushed by the weight of the world only to have an absurdly perfect young man sweep her off her feet and help her with her troubles. What, then does Coyote Ugly have to offer that the others haven’t? Sexy women dancing on a bar top in  a wet T-shirt contest is about all I can think of. Nevertheless, Coyote Ugly fleshes out these clichés enthusiastically without much irony. For that, I have to praise it.

Music played a strong role in this movie. There is lots of raucous and fun music played at the bar, such as "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor, "I Love Rock N Roll" by Joan Jett, and "Rock This Town" by Stray Cats. Coyote Ugly’s soundtrack features Violet's four songs from the movie, performed by LeAnn Rimes, who also did Violet's singing voice. It achieved gold status within a month of its release. The music was fantastic and  really helped set the tone of the bar and the movie.

The bar is almost a character unto itself. It serves as an escape from the world of dead dreams and is a place to live out fantasies while getting mistreated just a little bit. It’s sort of a southern biker bar meets a downtown hot spot full of frat kids. I’ve been to circuses that were more subdued than the Coyote Ugly bar. The movie is about Violet and the atmosphere of the bar. Coyote Ugly has a relationship with all the characters that we see throughout the film; it’s a place for the characters to congregate and interact. A lot of major plot points and character developments are portrayed through the bar.

There was so much texture and detail in the sets. It seemed like an artistic arrangement while still looking like natural backgrounds; that is a very difficult balance to achieve. I was also impressed by the eye-catching color palette. There were some remarkably vivid reds that really popped out with complementary contrasts of darker blues. Most of the camera work was uninspiring, but the striking colors and sets made up for it.

Coyote Ugly is essentially a bartending movie. It’s sexy, raunchy, and very worldly. It was uncomfortable to watch at times since it objectifies women as unattainable sex toys. The movie pushed its limits without actually achieving an R rating. It’s not something I’d recommend watching with your mother present, or young viewers for that matter. The Comedy aspect was respectable. I laughed fairly consistently throughout the film. All in all, Coyote Ugly was not a terrible film. It’s about as slick and mindless as you’d expect from a clichéd risqué movie about making it in the Big Apple while working at a bar. You’ll either like it as a silly, sexy romp of a film that is not to be taken too seriously, or hate it for being similar to so many other movies that have come before it in terms of character and story. It may be worth renting if the risqué content doesn’t put you off too much, otherwise don’t bother.

I can’t think of any other “bartending” movies other than Coyote Ugly, can you? Comment below and tell me if I’m missing anything worth seeing.