As probably the first male in the world to see this film I’ll probably be attacking this review in a much different light to most of the audience. Beating the opening weekends of Sex and the City and The Notebook is Magic Mike’s sequel XXL – marketed heavily on a bunch of ripped and toned strippe… I mean, male entertainers.
This collection of eye-candy is more than just six packs and protein powder. These men are nurturing and caring, and provide an outlet and a confidence boost to women who, in one way or another, have detached from their opposite gender and want to express themselves sexually by enjoying the male form and paying for the pleasure of it.
If you’ve seen the trailer, then you know what you’re in for. There is so much sexual innuendo in that 90 seconds, with shirtless dudes followed by heavy thumping music followed by more shirtless dudes and a lot of grinding and thrusting and all things MA15+.
Now, I’m not prudish, but I feel this is to the detriment of the film. Magic Mike XXL much more than just titillation.
Steven Soderbergh directed the first Magic Mike. A director of great note who also brought us Ocean’s 11, 12 & 13, he made the original an entertaining story in a unique setting which happened to be filled with plenty of half-naked men. In XXL, Soderbergh hands the reigns to his long time Assistant Director, Gregory Jacobs, however quite a bit of the magic (pun intended) from the first film still remains.
Mike, (Channing Tatum) returns to his old ‘entertainment’ crew three years after leaving to pursue his dream job and dream girl. The Res-Erection (snicker!) team is on their final hurrah as a unit and travel by van to the annual ‘Men’s Stripping Convention’. What we have here is essentially a ‘road trip’ film with the occasional dance scene thrown in between.
As required, there are some hiccups along the way where Mike and crew (Joe Manganiello, Kevin Nash, Matt Bomer, Adam Rodriquez and Garbiel Iglesias) get up to some sexy shenanigans while simultaneously empowering women and reinvigorating a sense of beauty in their lives. The message is a strange one – that these men, while exploiting their amazing bodies for cash, are actually nice guys who like to make the women of America feel better about themselves.
Honestly, I didn’t hate it – but there’s a strange social stigma attached to watching a movie like this. Most guys will feel a little too ‘weird’ going to watch it, and that’s understandable. However watching this as part of my job made me realise if the trailer explained more of the story and focused less on close ups of Channing Tatum’s abs it may have attracted a broader market.
Maybe.
Perhaps in the end it’s just best to stick to the core audience. This film is great fun for a girls’ night out, and is definitely entertaining. Magic Mike XXL has the most naturally flowing and conversational script I’ve seen in a long time. It immediately makes you like and understand the characters much faster. I was certainly pulled in – if not by the abs, then by their super tight-nit friendship that survives in this most niche of industries.
6/10 cocaine-laced dollar bills.
