Movie reviews
Matthew McConaughey was widely praised for unveiling his darker side in Killer Joe a couple of weeks ago, but he’s in equally impressive form in Magic Mike (16s), during which he reveals virtually everything else. A former male stripper who now runs a strip bar in Florida’s Tampa Bay, Dallas (McConaughey) manages a stable of well-oiled hunks, chief among them Magic Mike (Channing Tatum, who is in reality a former male stripper). Steven Soderbergh’s latest film is the most recent remake of the Hollywood staple A Star is Born, as Magic Mike takes newbie stripper Adam (Alex Pettyfer) under his wing, only for the shy young man to become a preening diva in less time than it takes to peel off a thong. Despite being pitched as a movie version of a night out with the Chippendales, this is a pleasingly cynical take on the sleazy world of male stripping, as Adam’s sister, Brooke (Cody Horn in a film-stealing performance), provides the sceptical female gaze that burns through the glitz ‘n’ glam to reveal some tawdry home truths. That said, the movie is good dirty fun, with McConaughey, Tatum and Pettyfer hamming it up, but while the expanse of bare flesh is at first diverting, Soderbergh’s subversive filming of the raunchy routines means that it grows monotonous and eventually repulsive. The director may well be having his (beef)cake and eating it, but the result is a fascinating movie.
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (15A) is a daring concept, being a romantic comedy set against the backdrop of an impending meteor strike that is going to wipe out humanity. Abandoned by his wife, can Dodge (Steve Carrell) find his high school sweetheart in the days before the apocalypse? And can Penny (Kiera Knightley) reunite with her family? “This is not the Ark, it’s the Titanic,” one of the characters tell us early on, setting the doom-laden tone. Thus the romance is pointless and the comedy is of the black variety, but Steve Carrell’s understated performance is a winning one. By comparison, Keira Knightley’s one-note performance is relentlessly grating, her contrived wackiness undermining the best of Carrell’s thoughtful, measured work. It’s still an intriguing journey, of course, but you may find yourself wishing the meteor would get a move on.
