‘Magic Mike’ sequel loses its spark
Print Edition
THERE’S an early scene in “Magic Mike XXL” that hints at what this much ballyhooed sequel could have been.
Mike Lane, played by the well nigh irresistible Channing Tatum, is alone in his furniture workshop. As he saws, measures and sands, the beat of the music he’s listening to starts to transport him. He can’t stop himself: he begins to dance, all around the shop, over and under the tools, a guy who just can’t keep those limbs from moving.
Tatum’s a great dancer and a wonderfully physical actor. We’d watch him do this all night. But we don’t get to.
Instead, we get almost two hours of often rambling setup, finally leading to a long-awaited climax when Tatum, fellow chiseled stud Matt Bomer and their buff male stripper cohorts take the stage to bump, hump, grind and swivel tirelessly as gleeful women rain dollar bills onto their oiled skin. Yes, we admire this tirelessness. But eventually it becomes tiresome.
Those who fondly remember the original “Magic Mike” will be sad to realize Matthew McConaughey is missing this time around. So is director Steven Soderbergh, though he’s back as cinematographer and editor. Gregory Jacobs directs this time. What’s missing in this sequel, though, is a real plot. What there is can be summed up in five words: road trip to stripper convention.
Still, there are moments of fun. One of these comes at a gas station convenience store manned by a young woman with an apparent inability to smile.
Mike, seeking to convince Big Dick Richie (Joe Manganiello) that he has the creativity to move out of his stock fireman character, challenges him to find a way to make the young lady grin.
But too often, the gang stops on the way to the contest and we never learn much about what happened. Things get sewn up quickly, and we move on.
But maybe all that’s beside the point. The only thing that matters is the giant show at the end, where each man gets his moment to shine, though frankly we’d have been happy just to fast forward to Tatum.
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