Magic Mike

Steven Soderbergh is accustomed to defying convention, but Magic Mike has to rank as one of the bigger missteps in his diverse career.

What attracted the Oscar-winning filmmaker to this material is a mystery. Perhaps it was overconfidence or just the desire to make something unexpected, which wouldn’t be the first time that has happened.

At any rate, Soderbergh’s talent cannot elevate this woefully shallow drama about the rise and fall of a pair of male strippers, which serves merely as eye candy for a select audience that only goes skin deep.

Less mysterious is the involvement of star Channing Tatum, who was the driving force behind the project, which is based on his experiences as a stripper prior to his acting career. Tatum is a producer on the film, but is not given any screenplay or story credit.

The film chronicles three months in the life of its title character (Tatum), who becomes a star at a Tampa male revue managed by an aging but successful host (Matthew McConaughey), who makes Mike the centerpiece of his show.

During a desperate moment, he takes on a young protege (Alex Pettyfer) who becomes a crowd favorite in his own right but gets too caught up in the lifestyle. This causes her sister (Cody Horn) to question the motives of Mike just as the two strike up a romance.

Magic Mike will give certain segments of the audience a chance to ogle the ample amounts of male flesh on display, but it doesn’t have much to offer the rest of us. It lacks basic character depth and doesn’t allow its characters a deeper emotional connection beyond its parade of pelvic thrusts and choreographed scream inducements.

The script by rookie Reid Carolin, who also plays a supporting role in the film, offers moderate insight into the backstage stripper life but few surprises. It’s hardly a revelation that the profession is overrun with sex and drugs, shady characters and superficial happiness.

Soderbergh adds more gritty visual flair than the screenplay deserves. Among the cast members, everyone but the free-wheeling McConaughey seems to be taking things too seriously.

The result resembles a gender-reversed version of Showgirls, albeit with a greater level of ambition, and suggests that anyone can be a stripper with a toned body and a defective brain.

Rated R, 110 minutes.