Magic Mike

An experienced male stripper (Channing Tatum) takes a feckless young slacker (Alex Pettyfer) under his wing, teaching him the ropes of exotic dancing while developing a cautious flirtation with the kid’s skeptical older sister (Cody Horn). Reid Carolin’s script is a fountain of unlikely clichés (the unlikeliest being that the diffident, underfed Pettyfer would be such a sensation his first time on the runway), but the director, the unpredictable Steven Soderbergh, gives the clichés a surface gloss of credibility. Better yet, Tatum seems to have found his signature role; his dance moves are great, and in a few short years he’s progressed from an inert lump to an actor of some promise. Horn, too, is a find; it’s almost worth the price of admission just to watch her face the first time she sees Tatum dance.