Magic Mike (2012) - Steven Soderbergh

I like Steven Soderbergh. I like the way he’s able to flit between smaller indie flicks and big studio films. I like the way he jumps between genres with ease, normally subverting said genre by subtly twisting the audiences expectaitions and ending up somewhere slightly different to the film they thought they were going to watch. Most of all I like him for having a vision, a reason for doing what it is he’s doing. I really hope he finds the urge to make more films and doesn’t retire, but rather takes a sabbatical for a while. I haven’t loved or even seen every film he’s ever made (I've seen most though), but I really did enjoy Magic Mike. If it wasn’t for a few key things then I’d probably be writing that I loved Magic Mike, but we can get to that in a minute.

Magic Mike has the simplest of plots, one that you’ve seen time and time again. It’s the old young kid is taken on a journey through a strange new world by an older wiser man. Knowledge will be passed down and lessons will be learnt. You know the sort of thing. The young kid in this case is 20 something problem type - Adam (Alex Pettyfer), who is unable to hold down a job and lives with his sister - Brooke (Cody Horn). He’s befriended by Mike (Channing Tatum) who shows him the world behind the curtain of male stripping.

That’s the basics, but being a Soderbergh film it’s a little more than that. So you get a lot of stripping, there’s at least seven or so set pieces and they are superb and very creative. But there’s also a side story about Mike being an entrepreneur and trying to get his business dreams off the ground in a world where money isn’t being lent out so easily, along with Adam’s tale of flying the nest. Channing Tatum is a revelation as Mike, he can do all the physical gubbins that the role requires, the dancing and moving must be second nature to a guy whose C.V. includes not one but two Step Up films. The impressive thing is that he can act, taking Mike from a shallow all surface type to something a little more human by the time the film wraps up, without anything feeling false or forced.

Unfortunately the same can’t be said Cody Horn who seems to have one blank expression that she uses in every scene. She’s not in the film all that much, but when she is you’ll be reminded that you’re just watching a film. Alex Pettyfer is a little better, but I didn’t really buy the journey he went on, it felt like some scenes must have gotten lost along the way in the editing suite. At one point he’s turned into a drug hoover, which felt a little sudden. The only other actor to really give Tatum a run for his money is Matthew McConaughey. After his incredible turn in Killer Joe, McConaughey manages to impress yet again with very little screen time as Mike’s boss - Dallas. He’s a scream, and manages to pull a performance out of himself that I would never have thought possible. Do you remember Tom Cruise in Magnolia? Well it’s that sort of 180° style turn. I hope he can keep it up, he even reprises his ‘Alright, alright, alright’ drawl from Dazed and Confused.

It’s strange that the world of male stripping is so vastly different to that of it’s female counterpart. The biggest difference being the audience, at male strip clubs the onlookers are almost 100% female, all of whom seem to laugh and shriek their way through the show. Women seem to quite often turn up in groups and it's thought of as more of a night out, a bit of fun. Juxtapose that with the far sleazier crowd that watch women peeling of their undies and you’ll see what I mean. Very odd that they can be poles apart, but they are. At the end of the day it boils down to why people would choose to watch another person remove their clothes on a small stage. For women I think it's less sexual than it is for men. I don't have anything to back that up, it's just what I'm guessing. Although having never frequented either male or female strip clubs I'm probably not the person most qualified to make that judgement.

The biggest problem with Magic Mike for me though was that the whole story had been done far better in Boogie Nights. The rise and fall and slight rise again story, the substitute family (Mike as the father, Brooke as the mother), hell there’s even a scene where a character unsuccessfully and uncomfortably tries to raise a loan, not to mention the descent in drugs hell section. All of which Boogie Nights did before and better. If Boogie Nights didn’t exist then Magic Mike would feel far more original, but it does exist and it’s a far better film. So where does that leave Magic Mike then? Well it’s good solid entertainment, nothing more nothing less. Well worth seeing for Matthew McConaughey alone, but you get the bonus of a Channing Tatum acting like a potential Oscar nominee. Being a Steven Soderbergh film means that it’s well directed and edited (by Soderbergh himself), but it does feel that it was put together a little too quickly in places with a few scenes that feel a little flat and character motivations that you’ll have to fill in for yourself. The stripping scenes are great fun and Soderbergh doesn’t short change his audience when it comes to that stuff. Overall it’s well worth your time, but there’s far more depth to be found in either The Full Monty or Boogie Nights, although neither of them feature assless chaps to quite the degree that Magic Mike does.

Gray’s Anatomy (1996) - Steven Soderbergh

This is the last of the four monologues Spalding Gray filmed for the big screen, before his suspected suicide almost ten years ago. Gray’s Anatomy is basically about Spalding’s experience after he discovered that the vision in his left eye had become fuzzy. After visiting an eye surgeon and being told that an operation was inevitable, Spalding decided to try absolutely everything he could think of to fix his eyesight rather than going under the knife. And of course Spalding being Spalding he turned it into one of his best monologues.

For those unaware of who Spalding Gray is let me start by saying he’s a bit of an acquired taste. But once you fall for him you won’t be able to get enough. Primarily an actor, but finding writing more rewarding, he’s probably most famous for his one man shows. Sitting behind a desk with a notebook, microphone and a glass of water and would pour forth amusing, poignant and often tragic stories from his own life. Think a slightly more neurotic Woody Allen and you’re in the right ballpark.

Both Jonathan Demme and Nick Broomfield have had a crack at filming a Spalding monologue before, with Swimming to Cambodia (1987) and Monster in a Box (1991) respectively. Both opted for the straightforward approach of what you’d see at one of his shows, quite spartan. What Soderbergh does is throw all that out of the window and do what he often does in his films, which is to do things in a way they haven’t been done before. So straight away there’s no audience and everything is far more stylized. For the scene in the doctors waiting room Soderbergh shoots through a opaque glass door. Likewise for the trawl through various alternative medicines Soderbergh uses various film making techniques to highlight what Spalding is rabbiting on about. It works a treat, never detracting from Spalding, and actually makeing it more of a film than the previous two efforts.

Gray’s Anatomy doesn’t actually open with Spalding Gray at all, but rather a series of short interviews with people who have all suffered some form of eye injury. My favorite of these is the woman who put super glue in her eye thinking it was eye drops. These interviews are filmed in stark black and white and look gorgeous. At various points in the film these interviewees return and say what they think of the various weird alternatives that Spalding is trying. Making them basically a representation of the audience. It’s a good idea that works really well.

If you don’t know Spalding Gray then either this or the equally aces Swimming to Cambodia are perfect places to start. I think this might have the edge since it’s visually rich too, the blood red lighting and silhouettes used for his visit to a psychic doctor in the Philippines being a particular highlight. Oh and there’s a wonderful minimalistic score by Soderbergh favourite Cliff Martinez too. So come on what are you waiting for?