Magic Mike XXL movie poster
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Magic Mike XXL
Magic Mike XXL movie poster

Magic Mike XXL Movie Review

Now available on Blu-ray and DVD (Buy on Amazon)

It was hard, but not impossible. Somehow a movie about male strippers has become a mainstream franchise, and more amazingly, somehow, I've become a fan. Magic Mike XXL does away with the drama, character study and other Soderbergh-isms of the first movie and delivers what audiences really wanted the first time around: a funny, harmless and largely entertaining jaunt filled with nearly naked men, screaming women and thankfully no penises.

Channing Tatum returns to lead the crew, while managing to intentionally make himself appear like a worse actor than he already is. But Tatum's draw has never been his raw acting talent: his looks, combined with his ability to be awkwardly charming even in glazed-eye monotone, makes him an unlikely star.

His ripped body and incredible dance skills don't hurt, either.

Even as a straight male, it's hard to deny his ability to bust a move and make nearly any object an innuendo for sex. Of course, as my girlfriend can attest, I have a nearly unrivaled ability to make anything sexual—and I'm also one of the sexiest dancers you'll ever see.

One of those two statements is a lie, but I digress. Magic Mike XXL is simply an entertaining movie, clearly designed to start/continue a franchise by establishing Magic Mike and his co-stars as a crew that can partake in a menagerie of male stripper adventures, not unlike what has happened in the can-be-anything-it-wants-to-be Fast and Furious franchise. Further, the movie is really not that scandalous, but it is amazingly good at teasing the thought—which really is the point.

None of the Magic Mike characters are especially deep, but they don't need to be. They each have their own personality and look, have great chemistry with one another and genuinely appear to be having fun onscreen. Amber Heard is introduced as a new love interest for Mike, but impressively, the movie resists the urge to dwell on their budding relationship—opting to focus on the men and their respective bromances.

Magic Mike XXL isn't without its limp moments, though. The film could have slimmed down the middle act a bit, especially as Mike and crew wander into a brothel-of-sorts that eats up way too much screen time. At nearly two hours long, there's no denying that this nearly plotless movie could have jerked away 20 minutes of running time for a more lubricated experience.

Still, Magic Mike XXL is a strange feat, a movie starring almost all men that caters to women, a movie about male strippers that doesn't completey turn off straight men, and the beginning of what feels like a fully flowered franchise that will leave certain moviegoers begging for more.

Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.

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