Like any red-blooded American gay homosexual sodomite, I’ve been looking forward to the new Steve Soderberg film Magic Mike for some time.  The filmmakers have used flashy beefcake images to sell the movie for over a year now, and I have to say that, unlike movies with names like Thor, the filmmakers play fair on that score:  You do see a lot of shiny, handsome, buff guys bumping and grinding in this movie.

I actually have less to say about the movie itself than I do about the cast.  So let’s dispense with the movie stuff first:

Magic Mike is very lite entertainment, done professionally well by a good director, decent screenwriters and good actors.  There’s nothing inspired about any of it, but it doesn’t sink into stupidity, either, which is a definite possibility in a movie about male strippers in Tampa.

My Channing Tatum stars as an ambitious thirty-year old lunk named Mike who is saving up for his dream – a custom furniture crafting business – by working as a roofer, bookkeeper, car detailer, and stripper.  When he meets a hangdog but cute and buff nineteen-year-old loser (Alex Pettyfer), he unwisely brings him into his cheesy world of spangled jockstraps, drug dealers and giddy, dangerous women.  Possible romance (with the loser’s sister) and mild misadventures ensue.

Nothing in the movie feels particularly important; the stakes are all there, but feel a bit like Senior Class Play stakes rather than the real thing.  And that’s okay.  After all, did I mention this is a movie about male strippers in Tampa.

So let’s talk about the cast.

First of all, Matthew McConaughey.  He gives it his best shot at Dallas, the Tampa strip club entrepreneur with dreams of moving his act to Miami.  His role is a little bit like Tom Cruise’s in Jerry McGuire:  the character plays to all of his strengths andweaknesses, so that even the things that may generally annoy you about the star really work as this sleazy, aging yet still ridiculously buff hustler.  It’s not quite Oh God Please Give Me My Overdue Oscar Nomination Acting, but it’s close.  I’m not a particular fan of the man, but he’s a professional, and he brings it here, even acquitting himself well in his one big strip scene.

However, I’m quite puzzled by the presence of Matt Bomer and Joe Manganiello in “supporting” roles as two of the other strippers at the club.  Puzzled because they have absolutely nothing to play.  I can see why the filmmakers wanted them in the movie:  they certainly add marquee value.  But they seriously need new agents.  Because they should have only agreed to bare their asses in the picture if the screenwriters and the director guaranteed that they’d actually have roles to play.  As it is, they’re glorified extras.  They barely have lines.  It’s almost distracting.  Manganiello and Bomer are both good actors with thriving television careers, and they should have demanded more high-quality involvement in the movie.  Or passed.

Alex Pettyfer, as the kid, is his usual pretty self.  He needs to work much harder to hide his British accent, though.

I was happy to see Gabriel Iglesias in the movie.  I’ve been impressed by him ever since he appeared on (and was thrown off of ) “Last Comic Standing” in 2006.

Now to the women.  I really rather enjoyed Olivia Munn, an actress/module I am most familiar with for her former hosting duties on G4’s “Attack of the Show!”  She’s good as Mike’s bisexual booty call buddy.

As to Cody Horn as Mike’s love interest, well… I’m afraid that considering her very thin resume coupled with the fact that her father is Alan F. Horn, former head of Warner Brothers Studios and current chairman of Walt Disney Studios, my only reaction is “well isn’t that special, she got to star in a movie!!”  For her next project, she might consider expanding her emotional range past the Pretty Pout.  And to Soderberg:  I hope the favor you’re putting in the bank in return for hiring her turns out to be worth it.

Finally, the movie’s star, Channing Tatum.  This is my Channing’s fourth major release this year, and here’s the thing:  He’s been quite good in all of them.  They weren’t all blockbusters, certainly, but then, his only movies that make big money seem to be the ones based on cheesy 80’s properties (21 Jump Street, G.I. Joe).

Tatum has great looks and solid movie star charisma.  He’s also an indecently good street dancer for a white boy, and he acutally is a former stripper, so his moves in Magic Mike are unassailable.  His acting agility is convincing and effective, as well.

The bottom line is, anyone who makes fun of Channing Tatum at this point in his career is stupid and wrong.

So:  Can I recommend Magic Mike?  Depends on how much you want to watch legitimate actors impersonate slimy male strippers.  If that does it for you, then get thee to the theater.  If not, well, you might be better off catching Moonrise Kingdom.