Magic Mike...

[fajrdrako]

I went to see Magic Mike this evening.

I thought it was great to see a movie that had sex in it - it's been a long time. At least, it had a sexual awareness, though there were no actual sex scenes. There was simulated sex, and numerous scenes of naked people in bed together, asleep or passed out.

The most interesting character was played by Matt Bohmer - who had almost no dialogue, and I couldn't even tell you his name. But Matt Bohmer has personality and to spare, and that made him more interesting than all the other rather inarticulate characters put together.

Alex Pettyfer was a disappointment. I'd heard him suggested as an actor who could play Lymond, and in some still photos it looked possible. In this movie, I couldn't see it at all.

I thought the plot was very similar to that of Saturday Night Fever - young man with nothing going for him finds success in disco dancing (or in this case, stripping); and in the end, sees the shallowness of the lifestyle and leaves it for love and, presumably, something better. Except in this movie, the protagonist role is shared between Mike and Adam - Adam slips into the role that Mike has been playing.

I would have had more sympathy for Magic Mike's aspirations of designing and selling handcrafted furniture, if I hadn't thought the furniture he made was horribly ugly.

Cody Horn as the female lead made a nice contrast to the various drunken and sleazy women populating the rest of the movie, but I don't think I've ever seen an actress or a lead character with so little personality or animation. This made it a rather unromantic romance - which was okay, but there should have been some spark, some subtext, some chemistry.

Matthew McConaughey as the owner of the strip club (and lead stripper) was fascinating, and borderline creepy.

What this movie really needed (besides a better writer) was more Matt Bohmer.

Comments

[kerithwyn]

Our group went to see it and had much the same reaction: More Matt Bomer! Always more Matt Bomer. And I'm tickled to see that the little bit of fic that's appeared for the movie is almost all about his character.

(Wanted to comment on your comics post but augh, so far behind, mass pile to read through....)

[fajrdrako]

Being behind on commenting seems to be a constant in my life!