{"id":4483,"date":"2022-01-14T15:49:15","date_gmt":"2022-01-14T15:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/?p=4483"},"modified":"2022-01-14T15:49:18","modified_gmt":"2022-01-14T15:49:18","slug":"finding-magic-mike-review-hbos-competition-series-is-bulging-with-talent-and-sex-appeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/?p=4483","title":{"rendered":"Finding Magic Mike review: HBO\u2019s competition series is bulging with talent and sex appeal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For a reality competition series filled with nearly naked men lap-dancing,&nbsp;<em>Finding Magic Mike<\/em>&nbsp;(\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606\u2606) is surprisingly wholesome fare. Sure, the Vegas-set show doesn\u2019t shy away from male objectification, proudly waving buns, bulges, and pulchritudinous pecs in our faces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yet, much like the Channing Tatum movies that begat the live stage revue, which led us here,\u00a0<em>Finding Magic Mike<\/em>\u00a0shamelessly serves up beefcake with an underlying feel-good sincerity that\u2019s disarmingly sweet. Even with $100,000 on the line, nice guys don\u2019t finish last in this competition, and the results are no less entertaining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Finding Magic Mike | Season 1 Full Episode | HBO Max\" width=\"749\" height=\"421\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bhdzHywTO9I?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The series\u2019 producers \u2014 including Tatum and&nbsp;<em>Magic Mike<\/em>&nbsp;director Steven Soderbergh \u2014 easily might have taken the seven-episode season in a more heated&nbsp;<em>Housewives<\/em>&nbsp;direction. A TV villain or two certainly lurks among the diverse assembly of contestants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the show leans on brotherhood, rather than backstabbing, as host and lead judge Adam Rodriguez, who played stripper Tito in the\u00a0<em>Mike<\/em>\u00a0movies, presides over the process of narrowing the initial 50 competitors down to a final ten<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hailing from all over the country, and all walks of life, from lawyer to bouncer to shoe salesman, these guys aren\u2019t competing to be the hottest exotic dancer, but to be the most confident, charismatic version of themselves. Or so the show keeps reminding us while challenging the men to train, rehearse, and perform on stage as if they were part of the cast of the stripper-meets-cirque spectacle\u00a0<em>Magic Mike Live<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Confidence and charisma are rewarded as highly as looking great naked, or the ability to dolphin dive into the crotch of an excited female audience member. Hands-on participation is all in good fun for the focus group-style crowds of women \u2014 with a smattering of gay men \u2014 brought in to watch the amateurs bump and grind to Ginuwine or Drake songs alongside the pros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The producers also bring in a lineup of guest female celebrities \u2014 Amanda Seales, Whitney Cummings, and Nicole Scherzinger, to name a few \u2014 at each episode\u2019s climactic live show to liven up the crowd and the commentary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not adding a Mario Cantone or Carson Kressley to offer spicy opinions seems a missed opportunity, but the Magic Mike franchise, while gay friendly, tries hard to be \u201cfor the ladies.\u201d Queer representation, at least among these contestants, is limited to a Mormon twink who identifies as bisexual and a former track-and-field star who remains coy on the subject, but also boldly jokes about taking partners from behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So\u00a0<em>Finding Magic Mike<\/em>\u00a0isn\u2019t always\u00a0<em>that<\/em>\u00a0wholesome. The humor, not the series\u2019 strongest attribute, rarely rises above locker-room level innuendo. And one pot-stirring contestant makes a whole storyline out of preferring to go commando because he\u2019s\u00a0<em>just so well-endowed<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He also claims to have no idea why the focus group audiences keep arriving at the same verdict on him, that he\u2019s too cocky. If he truly doesn\u2019t get the cockiness criticism, the show\u2019s editors do. He becomes a rather dramatic example of a loser, while more humble men prosper in the show\u2019s search for its ultimate fantasy, a man endowed with as much decency as talent and sex appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finding Magic Mike<em>&nbsp;season 1 is available for streaming on HBO Max. Visit<\/em>&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.hbomax.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>www.hbomax.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For a reality competition series filled with nearly naked men lap-dancing,&nbsp;Finding Magic Mike&nbsp;(\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606\u2606) is surprisingly wholesome fare. Sure, the Vegas-set show doesn\u2019t shy away from male objectification, proudly waving buns, bulges, and pulchritudinous pecs in our faces. Yet, much like the Channing Tatum movies that begat the live stage revue, which led us here,\u00a0Finding Magic<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4484,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}