REVIEW: ‘Magic Mike’ Ends Up Surprisingly Good For All Audiences

What’s most amazing about ‘’ is that it is a movie that a good cross-section of audiences can enjoy. It’s not just for the girls, or any audience that may be interested in scantily-clad men.

There’s some real heart in the story about the male strip club, and the camaraderie and sexual shenanigans that go on here.

It’s no secret that budding superstar actor Channing Tatum used to be a stripper. (He spoofed it enough on Saturday Night Live last season.) The local resident has been trying to break out of that stereotype and get into some meaty roles, but director Steven Soderbergh decided to capitalize on Tatum’s sort-of true story and make a movie about it.

The casting is quite spectacular, and anchored by an aging head of the strip club played by Matthew McConaughey. His cast of erotic dancers include Joe Manganiello, Matthew Bomer  and Alex Pettyfer, who is the young new addition to the crew known as “the Kid.”

The Kid is a lazy guy seeking a job at a construction site. He can’t roof, and when Tatum’s character Mike takes him in and tries to get him into the dance team, they find out he can’t dance either. At first, that is.

The story is as much about friendship, guys helping each other out and an unlikely romance than it is about stripping. Sure, the scenes  focus on long weird and wild acts, and crazed untamed mobs of women, but that’s  where a lot of the comedy comes in. It is a little surprising that in this group of nude testosterone in the dressing room (and on stage) not one of the characters is portrayed as gay (even with gay actor Matt Bomer in the cast).

And, if you're expecting any frontal nudity, you'd be disappointed. Although there is a quick shocking moment of a fluffing device, it's not like the frontal nudity in the last of the "American Pie" movies, or other R-rated movies. It doesn't go that far. 

Although it takes place in Tampa, much of the movie was shot in Studio City. The club Xquisite was shot at the abandoned Platinum Live, and Magic Mike’s apartment is in Playa del Rey.

Tatum is charming in the lead role. When he’s not writhing around on the floor and grinding his hips into a screaming woman, he has a winning smile and a realistic acting chops. 

McConaughey’s character named Dallas comes across as a dad or a big brother, but he turns mean-spirited and vindictive. McConaughey turns the character into a multi-dimensional person.

Tatum finds a connection with the Kid’s overly protective sister Brooke (played by Cody Horn). It may be a way to once and for all put his dancing days behind him, but it could be the beginning of a lucrative career.