I haven't seen Magic Mike. But here's what Bret Easton Ellis (author of Less Than Zero, The Rules of Attraction, Glamorama, American Psycho, etc.) has to say about it:

Bret Easton Ellis ‏@BretEastonEllis

Magic Mike is being sold by the studio as something it isn't. It's the darkest movie I've seen about where we are now and masterfully made.

Bret Easton Ellis ‏@BretEastonEllis

Magic Mike: the "celebration" sequence in the Tampa condo during a hurricane sends out such bad vibes but with such subtlety that I froze...

Bret Easton Ellis ‏@BretEastonEllis

"Magic Mike" is by far the best U.S. movie of 2012. Nothing comes close. Ending doesn't sweeten The New American Hopelessness at its core...

He's not really wrong, and the only thing holding the film back is that some aspects of the plot became forced and overblown towards the end of the film. I haven't seen a better Hollywood film this year.

I havent seen it yet, but a few of the girls ive talked to who have seen it all they talked about was Tatums dancing. None of them mentioned the story at all.

It's not so much the story that succeeds in the film as the atmosphere and thematic concerns.

But most people who go to see this film are likely too wrapped up in an estrogen surge to actually watch the film with any sense of critical thinking.

It's the same, but opposite, with 50 Shades of Grey.

My wife has picked up the mommy porn and yeah - there are some pretty spectacular side-effects.

That said, she then tried to convince me that I might enjoy it. So I grabbed the first book and just flipped to a tame section in the middle. That book is High-School quality writing, at best. It's full of cliche'd crap and plot holes. Section of it are over-written as hell while other parts of it are just stilted and nonsensical.

It's an awful book. That said, the 'estrogen surge' has women snapping the thing up in droves.

I'm not complaining here, but my God, they've kinda exposed themselves as the same hyper-sexed critters they've accused us men of being for so long. Frankly, I think the only real distinction is the lack of outlets.

I wanted to see this when I first read about it. But based on your thoughts and what Bret Easton Ellis has been saying, I'm bumping this up a notch or two on my list.

So...is this a legit good movie? Or the trash it looks like from the previews?

Its a legit good movie apparantly. It was marketed as a "good time gal pal movie" but thats just to sell tickets and get people in the door.

So I watched this last night with the wife. It's actually very, very good. Not really much of a story, it's more like just a 3 month slice of life.

Interesting style. I liked how a lot of the dialogue and performances seemed improvised and non scripted. Solid flick

It's worth a look. No homo.

This movie sucked.

Olivia Munn was the only thing good about it.

What have been some of your favorite movies of the year?

Did you think in the slightest bit that it would even be remotely good? LMAO

Nothing stands out.

Just watched Seeking a Friend for the End of the World and Prometheus. Both were pretty good. Took my son to see The Avengers. That was better than I thought. Good action flick and my son enjoyed it. Can't ask for more than that.

Overall, this yr has sucked for movies.

No, I did not.

The stripping didn't bother me. Hell, I actually liked Brokeback Mountain.

The story outside of that was not interesting.