I saw "Magic Mike." Ask me anything...

[CTyankee]

[petronius]

1. Should the rest of us see it? Was it good?

[CTyankee]

2. Well, this is a Soderberg movie that started out playing in our local art movie house.

Then, it moved to one of our Cineplex's. I couldn't figure it out till I got there. The theater was filled with women and hardly any men.

The movie is about the intertwining lives of two male strippers, one a confident 30 yr. old and the other an immature 19 yr. old who has real magnetism. Grim things happen. It has LOTS of men performing strip routines for audiences of screaming women. It's about the subculture of the male strippers jobs. It is gritty and sometimes gross and sometimes funny. It strikes you as realistic, even if you have no firsthand knowledge of male strip clubs in Tampa.

The performances were very good and actually one of the stars of the film did some phenomenal strip break dancing. It is long.

I've not seen a Soderberg film so I really don't know much about him. As a hetero senior woman I can't speak for how a man would react to it. I did feel the acting and direction were very good. It is a high quality film. But you have to be prepared to see a lot of male stripper routines. It wasn't my thing, but the men's bodies were nice, the routines were sometimes surprisingly witty and well performed, and the acting first rate.

so it's just a matter of individual preference.

[Flaxbee]

3. From what I've read, and your account, it didn't seem like just gratuitous stripper routines

though no doubt there were probably quite a few. I've always thought stripping (both male and female) was funny, if done correctly, though not particularly sexy - just doesn't really do it for me.

I'd heard it dealt with the life, lifestyle, good and bad; not just the hot semi-nekkid guys.

I don't see movies in theaters, but I'd like to see this when it's on DVD. Pretty sure my husband won't want to watch, though. Could be wrong.

[avebury]

4. He might learn some

tips from it.

[CTyankee]

14. OK, from what you have said, I can tell you that you would probably appreciate the better

qualities of this movie. You are right about the life and lifestyle part. That is the point of the movie, IMO. It's not about women getting off on men's bodies altho there is really nothing wrong with that.

Personally, I feel it is about the dead end of dreams in our society. These young men are snared into a life they think is all hedonism and wonderful and at age 30 they kinda wake up and realize that they are in a trap and they need to get out. Their bodies won't be that young forever and they might not even live that much longer, given the drug and alcohol abuse they indulge in.

It is a kind of morality tale, but without any preaching. It just is. Matthew McConnaghy's body looks great but his face is aged way beyond. He is kind of like the nightclub guy in Cabaret, a grinning , joking narrator of a bad scene. A great performance, by the way. I hope he's nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar.

[petronius]

9. I'll take that as a "yes" - it sounds really interesting!

[CTyankee]

10. Well, it depends. Be aware that the male strippers were choreographed in this movie and

were a lot more aesthetically interesting than "dirty." Now, that can mean different things. I have known art works to be extremely sensual. It really depends on the individual.

It is NOT a non-thinking person's movie. But to the extent you want to think about it, it is of interest. Male stripping might not be your thing...even as an artistic hook...

[Motown_Johnny]

5. What is the square root of Pi?

You said to ask you anything.

[CTyankee]

11. dunno

[OriginalGeek]

6. My wife, my 22yo daughter and my aunt all want to see it

but the funny thing is my daughter wants to go with my aunt but not my wife...

"Yeah I wanna see it but not with my mother!"

[CTyankee]

13. the funny thing is that the dirty dancing isn't all that erotic except in the sense that it is

so aesthetically pleasing. But that depends on your sense of the erotic. To each her or his own on that. I don't think I'd want to see it with my mother either...

[4th law of robotics]

7. Why?

[whistler162]

8. Probably that or watching paint dry

and it was SRO for paint drying!

The movie sounds as dumb as that one with Demi Moore, whatever that was called!

[OriginalGeek]

17. Striptease with Demi and Burt Reynolds?

That wasn't terrible but the book was way better - it was from a Carl Hiaasen novel and I love me some Carl Hiassen. He is a good friend to Florida's environment. Strip Tease wasn't really about stripping (although it had some in it since the main character was a stripper).
from wiki:

Strip Tease is a 1993 novel by Carl Hiaasen. Like most of his other novels, it is a crime novel set in Florida and features Hiassen's characteristic black humor. The novel focuses on a single mother who has turned to exotic dancing to earn enough money to gain legal custody of her young daughter, and ends up matching wits with a lecherous United States Congressman and his powerful corporate backers.
Like many Hiaasen novels, the book’s plot is set against a backdrop of a particular environmental crime or corruption issue that angers the author. In this case, it is the plutocracy of sugar growers in Florida, and the exorbitant subsidies regularly granted to them by the U.S. Congress.

Plus it was funny watching Burt.

[CTyankee]

12. oh, why not. I don't care...

[Bolo Boffin]

15. Better or worse that "The Full Monty"? n/t

[CTyankee]

16. It's a different movie. See it if you appreciated full monty...

[Honeycombe8]

18. Does McConaughey show his rear? nt

[CTyankee]

19. yes, altho my buddy and I wondered if it really WAS his aging rear (too firm she thought).

Funny how his body was buff and his face was old and leathery. His performance was chilling...

[HopeHoops]

20. Any naughty bits?

[CTyankee]

21. No. Skimpy thongs on the male strippers, a couple of rather mild nude shots of women but those

were brief.

Nice male bodies, well choreographed (by a woman I think) and probably better dancing than you would see in your average male strip club in Tampa. But I don't know. I've never been to a male strip club.

[HopeHoops]

22. I've never been to a MALE strip club either. I thought it was about nude guys, not women!

Of course, the gratuitous naked female shots are obligatory in such movies. Even "The Full Monty" had a naked female butt. On the other hand, it also had a still shot of six naked male butts.

[CTyankee]

23. well, the guys butts are essentially naked in Magic Mike. I guess I was thinking about full

frontal nudity when you said "naked."

The two shots with naked women were (IIRC) profile bare breasts from waist up and a naked woman, seen from the rear, sleeping on her side in a bed. Not exactly titillating.