Magic Mike
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: June 29, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
33
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
New York PostSara StewartJun 29, 2012
As we face yet another summer of brooding superheroes, it's Magic Mike to the rescue! He's got the civilian alter ego and the acrobatic skills to rival Spidey or Batman. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJun 28, 2012
If it falls short of greatness, it's not by much - and it could end up growing with the years. At the very least, it is exceptional and one of the best and most original pictures to come along in 2012. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanJun 27, 2012
The movie is Mike's story, and Channing Tatum proves himself a true movie star. His Mike glides through the world with the ease of a god, and on stage he's electrifying. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJun 25, 2012
The raunchiest, funniest and most enjoyably nonjudgmental American movie about selling sex since "Boogie Nights." Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy BurrJun 29, 2012
Director Steven Soderbergh is working very near the top of his game here, and if Magic Mike tells an old, old story about a young man, his talent, his rise, and his fall - see everything from "Saturday Night Fever" to "Boogie Nights" - he brings the confidence of a born filmmaker and a cast that's sharper than their characters and ready to play. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJun 28, 2012
One of the pleasures of Magic Mike is its egalitarian spirit and dedication to the ensemble. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnJun 28, 2012
Magic Mike casts a seriously entertaining spell. Read full review
83
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJun 27, 2012
Even when Magic Mike is skimpier than a g-string it soars on daring, as if Soderbergh asked himself who could possibly make a good movie from such offbeat material, answered "I can," and did. Read full review
80
Total FilmNeil SmithJul 2, 2012
Soderbergh lets his hair down with a frank, funny dramedy that bulges with humour, heart and smarts as McConaughey gives it everything he's got, in a potentially gong-grabbing turn. Read full review
80
TimeSteven James SnyderJul 2, 2012
Rarely do you see an actor harness such physical energy on the screen, much less dance at this level of intensity while converting raw muscle mass into raging sex appeal. But Tatum is the real McCoy. Read full review
80
EmpireKim NewmanJul 2, 2012
The final act has an inevitable wavering patch when the film is obliged to tut-tut about the shallowness of the stripping, drinking, bantering, carousing and whooping it has previously enjoyed, but this is terrific entertainment with a sideline in wry melancholia and testosterone-fuelled philosophy. Have 20 dollars. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJul 1, 2012
It's better to think of Magic Mike as arty but energetic soft-core porn, with no pickle shots but plenty of juice. You should see it if only for McConaughey, an underrated leading man who finally gets a chance to use his strange timing. Read full review
80
The New York TimesManohla DargisJun 28, 2012
It works - beautifully. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanJun 28, 2012
For starters, it's a pleasure to see Matthew McConaughey - a gifted actor who can't hide his boredom in trivial work - finally settle into the role for which he was born. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'HehirJun 28, 2012
Magic Mike is a fascinating film, one of his (Soderbergh's) best in recent years. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJun 26, 2012
Didn't Soderbergh notice there was pathos enough in Matthew McConaughey's beefcake proprietor, an ab-slapping, spandexed Peter Pan? Between this role and his owlish DA in the subversively sly "Bernie," the actor has finally found a way to subvert his six-pack. He's the magic here. Read full review
80
Boxoffice MagazineMark OlsenJun 25, 2012
By way of remarkable sleight-of-hand, Steven Soderbergh's Magic Mike both is and is not the freewheeling, fun-loving, male stripper extravaganza its trailers peddle. Read full review
80
VarietyPeter DebrugeJun 25, 2012
Ladies are gonna love Magic Mike, a lively male-stripper meller inspired by Channing Tatum's late-teen, pre-screen stint as an exotic dancer. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn LevyJun 28, 2012
Magic Mike doesn't sizzle often enough as either cinema or beefcake, though. It's medium-strength Soderbergh, which is better than the full-strength stuff most filmmakers can manage but not exactly the brand that keeps you coming back for more. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia PuigJun 28, 2012
Almost as impressive as Tatum's moves are his comic flair and breezy grace. He proved his comic talents earlier this year in "21 Jump Street" and shows them off winningly here. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn HornadayJun 28, 2012
It's a nicely balanced blend of comedy, drama and athletic dancing that plies its trade with winking, unforced self-assurance. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsJun 28, 2012
It's guilty of some sleight-of-hand hokum, but in pulling the rug from under the norm, Magic Mike turns a trick. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 27, 2012
Magic Mike takes itself seriously - not so seriously that there isn't room for a little humor, but this is not an excursion into cheesiness and gratuitous nudity. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsJun 27, 2012
Like "The Girlfriend Experience," Magic Mike doubles as an of-the-moment film about life in a down economy, so much so that it would play like a bait-and-switch if it didn't just as thoroughly deliver as a movie about stripping. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie OgleJun 27, 2012
If you can look past all the flesh and the thongs and the thrusting - and I admit that is an almost impossible task and probably not one you'd want to undertake anyway - what's most distinctive about Steven Soderbergh's Magic Mike is its sense of fun. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertJun 27, 2012
Selling anyone the right to touch your genital area for a couple of bucks is not a good way to build self-esteem. Steven Soderbergh's Magic Mike makes this argument with a crafty mixture of comedy, romance, melodrama and some remarkably well-staged strip routines involving hunky, good-looking guys. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderBen SachsJul 1, 2012
The dance numbers, choreographed by Allison Faulk, are inventive and athletic, but not really erotic; Soderbergh never lets you forget that, for these men, dancing is above all a job. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJun 28, 2012
The process is called acting, and the man (Tatum) in the title role of Steven Soderbergh's flashy, not-so-trashy entertainment does it so well that the debate should be officially ended. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghJun 27, 2012
Skeptical at first, perhaps a little embarrassed, but before you know it, you're having a blast. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenJun 27, 2012
Soderberg enhances the meager storyline with some creative camerawork (again shot by himself under the pseudonym Peter Andrews). The club scenes are always entertaining and some of the backstage imagery is unforgettable. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)James AdamsJun 28, 2012
Two things do redeem the film somewhat. One is the near-uniform excellence of the cast, led by Tatum, who has a compelling, eminently watchable aw-shucks charisma, and newcomer Horn as the cute, concerned sister. The other is the easy, naturalistic flow and ebb of Reid Carolin's dialogue, which gives none of his characters a vocabulary or insights above his or her station. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaJun 28, 2012
An odd and entertaining mix of backstage melodrama, indie verite, and "Showgirls" kitsch, the usual gender stereotypes are upturned. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineJohn SemleyJun 28, 2012
It's as if Soderbergh expects the film to mostly resolve itself, rounded out by the asses-in-the-seats appeal of the material, rote thematic underpinning, and ample charms of the cast. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawJul 12, 2012
Oddly, Magic Mike somehow looks like a much darker and more challenging movie than is actually the case. Read full review
60
MovielineAlison WillmoreJun 27, 2012
The divide between Tatum as performer and Tatum as actor gives the film an interesting unsteadiness. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter TraversJun 28, 2012
Magic Mike slowly degenerates into a simplistic cautionary fable. I didn't see that coming from a sharp observer like Soderbergh. Read full review
50
Village VoiceKarina LongworthJun 26, 2012
The highly calculated Magic Mike is pure Hollywood self-mythology - a neo-Depression musical, a wish-fulfillment fantasy for shitty times, an origin-of-the-star story, and a projection of that star's hoped-for future. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranJun 28, 2012
Life, however, cannot be lived entirely on stage, and once the characters have to take off their thongs and return to their real lives, the film goes nowhere that is either interesting, involving or surprising. Read full review
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