Mike (Channing Tatum) is an entrepreneur. He has several small businesses he has started. His dream, however, is to build one of a kind furniture. To fund all these business, and to raise the money necessary to get his furniture business off the ground, he is a stripper.

The club he works at is run by Dallas (Matthew McConaughey). The “stable” includes characters such as Big Dick Richie (Joe Manganiello), Tarzan (Kevin Nash), Tito (Adam Rodriguez), and Ken (Matt Bomer).

Mike meets Adam “The Kid” (Alex Pettyfer) at a construction job. He gets him into the stripping gig. After Adam’s sister, Brooke (Cody Horn), finds out about Adam’s new career, Mike promises to look after Adam. And the two become best friends. Until things start going downhill and Mike starts reevaluating his lifestyle.

I heard a lot of good buzz heading into this movie, so I expected a decent amount from this movie. I was sorely disappointed.

I had heard it would have the same effect as 50 Shades of Grey. It was not so. And I got that opinion from the group of women with whom I attended the movie. They wanted more stripping. And, frankly, I was expecting someone to get naked. Not that I’m looking for that in a movie. But you expect it in a movie about male strippers.

The one take away from the movie is that Channing Tatum is a decent actor. But he is a hell of a dancer.

Magic Mike is of the same quality as Striptease or Showgirls. There isn’t a great story behind it. At least not worth sitting through to see what you see. There are several story arcs (The Kid getting into drugs, a “bad news” chick Adam gets involved with, and some immediate forgiveness) that were raised but never resolved. A good majority of the story was just completely underdeveloped. The acting, honestly, is about what you would expect from a story about male strippers. I just don’t get why everyone loved this movie.

I heard rumors that it is based on Channing Tatum’s history as a stripper. I’m sure he did well for himself. But given the way the story was presented, he has a convoluted, mixed up past. If you want to see what this movie showcases best, even if minimally, watch the original Step Up. Channing has a much bigger role showing off his insane dancing talents. Otherwise, wait for this movie to show up at the RedBox.