Channing Tatum‘s new movie Side Effects gets released today, which is sure to provide some much needed hotness in the wake of the snow-icane about to slam the Northeast. OK sure, technically the Steven Soderbergh flick also stars Jude Law as the male lead. But ever since Magic Mike, we’ve sort of had an unrealistic expectation for exactly how much of Channing we get to see in any given movie.
Is Side Effects the bizarro version of The Vow? The Vow plus Memento? A woman happily married to Channing Tatum suddenly doesn’t remember what happened to her during a specific dark period of time, only instead of Rachel McAdams, the wife is played by Rooney Mara. And instead of amnesia, she has…whatever kind of amnesia allows Jude Law to turn you into an unknowing homicide machine. We honestly aren’t sure if that’s the correct plot (or, frankly, even close to the plot) after watching the film’s trailer, but the important thing to keep in mind when thinking about Side Effects is Channing Tatum. Dreamy soft-focus Channing Tatum, joined later by furrowed-brow possible-husband-of-a-murderer Channing Tatum. There’s also some sexy business and at least murder going on, but mostly? Channing Tatum.
Side Effects is allegedly one of Steven Soderbergh‘s last features before the director retires from the moviemaking business forever, the other being the Liberace biopic Behind The Candelabra. The man is going out on top! Soderbergh also filmed Channing for Magic Mike, so we’re guessing he knows what the fans want out of a Channing Tatum sexy murder movie: shirtlessness, wall-punching, pelvic thrusting if and when appropriate.
Steven Soderbergh’s having kind of a crap week, what with disappointing numbers for his latest action flick, Haywire, and the news that Annapurna Pictures backed out of one of his next projects, Side Effects. But we feel more sorry for Blake Lively, as some industry sources are speculating that backers aren’t so sure she can handle the role of a young woman caught in a love triangle with her doctor (Jude Law) and her paroled husband (Channing Tatum). It sounds like a heavy step up from Gossip Girl and Green Lantern, but it wouldn’t be the first time Soderbergh has managed to make a movie star into a serious actress. (One of those actresses, Catherine Zeta-Jones, has signed on for another role in Side Effects, giving ol’ Steven a vote of confidence.) Then again, he’s also had a few misses in that category too. Let’s take a look at what the critics have said about five of his leading ladies’ performances:
1. Jennifer Lopez in Out of Sight: “At the center of the film is the repartee between Jennifer Lopez and George Clooney, and these two have the kind of unforced fun in their scenes together that reminds you of Bogart and Bacall. There’s a seduction scene in which the dialogue is intercut with the very gradual progress of the physical action, and it’s the dialogue that we want to linger on.” — Roger Ebert
“Lopez, for all her Latina-siren voluptuousness, has always projected a contained coolness, and this is the first movie in which it fully works for her. As Sisco is lured into a romance with Foley, you can see her resolve melt in spite of itself.” — Entertainment Weekly
