Magic Mike XXL

I remember leaving the theatre back in 2012 after seeing Magic Mike, and although I was thoroughly entertained and admittedly, amazed at the dancing ability of Channing Tatum, there was a sort of hollow sadness as well. I didn't think much of it until I walked out of Magic Mike XXL, and it dawned on me; The character depictions of these ambitious, fit, good-looking sex symbols makes you cheer for them in all their dancing glory, but when the music stops, each one of them is lonely and broken in their own way. When your life's work amounts to making a room of women cheer and throw dollar bills in the air, is your life really enviable? Maybe it's the adult me talking, and not the twenty-something me that may have signed up for that lifestyle if I had the rhythm and abs required. Magic Mike has much deeper themes once you take off the first layer. And then the next, until there is nothing by a thong covering the last shred of dignity.

We pick up three years after Magic Mike, and Channing Tatum (Magic Mike) is running a floundering furniture design and deliver business in South Florida. He gets a call from Tarzan (Kevin Nash) telling him he needs to meet up, so he obliges. In the most indiscreet way possible, Matthew McConaughey, Alex Pettyfer, and Cody Horn are all written out of the script, but Big Dick Richie (Joe Mangiello), Tarzan, Ken (Matt Bomer), and Tito (Adam Rodriguez) all reprise their roles as the traveling troupe of strippers dubbed the Kings of Tampa. The premise is simple this time around. The crew is looking for one last ride before they hang up their g-strings. They make their way to the stripper convention in Myrtle Beach. They run into some trouble along the way, so they stop in Savannah and call in a favor from an old friend, Rome (Jada Pinkett-Smith), who bears a striking resemblance to McConaughey's Dallas in the original. She's a flamboyant Madame running a house of ill repute that only serves the purpose of introducing us to a few new dancers including Michael Strahan, Steven Boss, and Donald Glover, who's more of a crooner than a stripper, which to me seems a little cheesy. Anyhow, we finally get to the convention, and the guys find their inner-Elizabeth Berkeley, and put on the show of their lives.

Interesting facts; Matt Bomer was supposed to be Superman while Brett Ratman was attached to Superman Returns before Brandon Routh snuck in with Bryan Singer, and Bomer and Mangiello graduated from Carnegie Melon together in 2000. The entire cast and crew seems to be an incestuous romp down memory lane, but it makes sense. The guys seem to be having a great time dancing, grinding, flirting, and the girls obviously love it. You can't help get behind the good nature of the crew, particularly Tatum's Mike, whose legendary status seems to span the entire eastern seaboard. Amber Heard is the completely unnecessary object of Mike's affection, as she adds negative energy and value to the film, but this one is much tamer than the first. It's not about sex, it's about going out with a bang before returning to pipe dreams, and inevitably Magic Mike 3.

Veteran assistant director, Gregory Jacobs takes the helm from Steven Soderbergh as director (they have collaborated regularly), and Channing Tatum's buddy Reid Carolin delivers a pretty mediocre script considering the potential in material and starpower. The dialogue seems natural at times, particularly when Tatum is speaking, but seems forced by most of the other actors throughout the film. If I were judging based on writing and directing alone, this film would be a miserable failure. But, I'm a sucker for talent. Tatum has talent.

Tatum's dancing is inspiring, and from a guy's perspective, intimidating. I can see why he was People's Sexiest Man Alive in 2012. He and Chris Pratt (inevitable 2015 sexiest man alive) are the present and foreseeable future of Hollywood sex symbols, you heard it here first. The film however, carries a heavy and depressing truth to the world of exotic dancing. It's a trap that is difficult to escape, and the lifestyle is only superficially satisfying. I appreciate what the film is trying to do, and with the monstrous success of the first one, I don't blame them for green-lighting and executing the sequel, but I couldn't quite fully enjoy it because it seemed a bit too true to life. 6/10.