The thing I liked about the first
Magic Mike movie is that it wasn’t
just an excuse to have a feature-length show of male sexy dances that women can
go gaga for (as how it was being promoted).
It has that aspect, of course, but it’s more than that. It surprisingly has dramatic depth, an actual
well-thought plot, and great performances from the cast. I love how Rotten Tomatoes worded its
evaluation of the movie: “[it allows] audiences to have their beefcake and eat
it too.” That perfectly sums it
up.
This 2015 sequel, though not as
smart, has the same merits as its predecessor.
It has the sensual sequences that will please the ladies, but it also
has a strong story and a sincere message (for the record, I don’t subscribe to
most of the philosophy that the movie is preaching, but there are interesting
lessons worth considering if they are taken away by themselves) to tell.
Three years after “Magic” Mike (Channing
Tatum) leaves the stripper lifestyle, he finds himself missing the excitement of
performing and hanging out with his Kings of Tampa mates. Thus, when the guys drop by and inform him that
they intend to end their stripping careers in a high note by participating in
an annual stripper convention in Myrtle Beach, Mike goes on leave from his
furniture business and decides to reunite with the Kings of Tampa crew for one last
blow-out performance.
So it’s basically a road trip
movie… but with a lot of stripping and dancing involve. It has a couple of absurd narrative elements
and coincidences, but if you can get over the ridiculousness of the idea of a
stripper convention – I don’t know if that’s an actual thing in real life – then
all other things fall into place of making Magic
Mike XXL hold up as an adequately thoughtful piece of entertainment.
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