The Full Monty + a trainer for the cast members
1 / Striptease
The Help + ...ok, no similarities except the gender divide in the audience.
Cast: While the press kits beg to differ, there's three main characters here: Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, and Cody Horn, and even Pettyfer feels a little underused. I think I've announced this before, but I'm officially a Tatum fan these days. He even makes this role charming. Horn and Pettyfer both reek of shiny-newness. Matthew McConaughey reclaims his role as a fit David Wooderson (not really, but it's fun to claim). Matt Bonner and Joe Manganiello have vastly smaller roles than in the previews (think, Tyra Banks in Cayote Ugly). I think I even saw Gabriel Iglesias in there too (not stripping, thank god). Oh, Olivia Munn's in it. Not a lot though.
Plot: The story really follows a lot of the same notes as Boogie Nights the way it plays out. It's really all good non-wholesome fun. It feels like a pretty rough draft the way it's all played out, and Tatum is the singular focal point in this far more than I expected. In the end, it's hard to be too harsh on this movie, for obvious reasons.
Elephant in the Room: Yeah, that theater was about 95% women and for a reason. I don't think they sated anyone in the theater for the stripping scenes. Let me put it like this. If you see The Avengers, you expect big battle set pieces. If you see Rock of Ages, you expect grand musical numbers. If you The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel...you need a hobby. For movie events like this, the first concern is to give the people what they want. I think it was more concerned with a full narrative, which was actually a pretty good one, but I worry there may be a little backlash from people expecting more.
A Side Note: [Straight] Guys shouldn't be afraid to see it. Sure there's abs and you might have too wait a week to get your girlfriend's expectations down, but there's a healthy supply of bikinis and boobs. There's a little Sodom for everyone in it.
To Sum Things Up:
This falls under the category of guilty pleasure, sure. It's still a more complete movie than I expected and worth seeing. It makes a great double-feature with Brave.
Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend
You know I had been reading about this one forever. I think you even laughed it off when I told you about it a long time ago. I first read about it in very early production, and my immediate reaction was "BAWWWHAHAHAHA!" and figured it would either bomb or not get made. I was pleasantly surprised. It had deeper undertones than I was expecting -- the commodification of the body in a disillusioned capitalist society. And, the biggest clincher is the way it is male bodies.
ReplyDeleteAgree whole-heatedly about the strip scenes. They could've been better. Then again, when I heard this was a movie about male strippers but with no full frontal, I wrung my hands of it delivering on that front.
Also, you do know it's Matt BOMBER, not BONNER, right?
Honestly, I was cut and pasting a lot of those names in, so I'm really not sure how that typo got in there.
ReplyDeleteI think the typo is more appropriate than his real name!
ReplyDelete