JULY 6, 2015
The original “Magic Mike” was all about men. Its successor, “Magic Mike XXL,” is all about women. And is much the better for it.
Probably the most joyous element of “Magic Mike XXL” is its celebration of female passion. Not the most common theme in mainstream Hollywood films. One prominent critic, Variety‘s Guy Lodge called it “The Summer’s Most Subversive Studio Pleasure.” And he might be right.
Not that you’d know it by Act I. It’s strictly bro-nonsense with some housekeeping — What happened to Dallas? Why isn’t Mike (Channing Tatum) married anymore? Does Alex Pettyfer still have a career?
Then something magic happens. Big Dick Richie (Joe Manganiello) is dared into trying to make a taciturn mini-mart cashier smile. With a bag of Cheetos and a large bottle of water squirting from his crotch, [SPOILER ALERT] he succeeds. The film’s theme is suddenly made clear.
At this point, in a very unusual story structure, screenwriters Tatum and Reid Carolin place the bulk of the remaining action on three very lengthy set-pieces. The first occurs in a Savannah mansion where Mike’s ex-flame Rome (an excellent Jada Pinkett Smith) holds court in a pleasure palace where her largely African-American female clientele, to whom she refers as “queens,” enjoy the adoration of male entertainers in room after room. This is such a fresh take on sexuality, particularly when the men single out for their esteem women who may not be considered by society as attractive.
The second sequence in a Charleston mansion follows suit as the boys try to check in on a photographer (Amber Heard) acquaintance of Mike’s but stumble instead on her mother (Andie McDowell) and her wine-swilling friends. When the women learn that they’re strippers, the do the sexiest thing they can — they listen.
The final lengthy sequence is the performance at a stripper convention in Myrtle Beach. Each man gets his moment, but each routine focuses on one or more women in the audience as they let go to enjoy the fantasy that each dancer provides.
The film is not completely all that. The housekeeping part of Act 1 may be needed but it’s routine. And the final scene does nothing more than the look-into-the-fireworks finale of “Oceans Eleven,” directed by Steven Soderburgh, of whose fingerprints as this film’s producer, editor and cinematographer is all over “Magic Mike XXL.”
Still, “Magic Mike XXL” certainly is near the top in surprising adult entertainments this summer.
Grade: B+
