Magic
Mike XXL
They should have made the writer of the movie work on his screenwriting
skills as much as Channing Tatum works on his abs.
Channing Tatum is back as Mike – the former male stripper who
is struggling to make a huge success out of his custom furniture
building company. During a time in his life when he is down and out,
his stripper buddies call him up and make him an offer he
can’t refuse.
The former Kings of Tampa (or whatever their name was) are making one
last appearance together at a massive male stripper convention in
Myrtle Beach, and the guys want Mike to join them on stage for the
first time in three years. Of course, he does because we
wouldn’t have a movie if he was responsible and focused on
his business, employees and customers (is this why the business is
struggling?).
Magic Mike XXL
is a pointless road trip movie put together with no focus. The audience
gets a couple of funny scenes when the ensemble shows some true
camaraderie, but those moments are few and far in between as the
creative team shows us they made Magic Mike XXL to cash in on
those who
just want to watch Tatum and his compadres shake their moneymakers.
In what I think is supposed to be the plot, director Gregory Jacobs and
writer Reid Carolin have the guys traveling up the coast moving from
goofy situation to dance scene to goofy situation to dance scene. I
guess the stripper crew is supposed to be some sort of merry traveling
band of mirthmakers dedicated to healing the souls of brokenhearted
women from Florida to Georgia to South Carolina (or maybe they just
want to be heating up the ladies pants).
However, Magic Mike XXL
walks some fine line between being a serious movie and a parody of what
we expect it to be. The characters are boring and idiotic as Carolin
tries to present reasons we should be pulling for these underdogs
trying to use their time as male entertainers to advance their true
life’s dreams. Yet, these characters show the audience time
and time again why those dreams will fail. Is this supposed to be
tragic? Comical? All of the above? The tone is never clear.
Even the dialogue between Tatum and the gang sounds made up and
labored, as if the entire movie was shot on the fly with no script and
a gaggle of actors and crew enjoying some free time in the sun, or on
the beach, or at a fancy house.
If you want to see guys dancing in various stages of undress, they have
clubs for stuff like that in your city, or start exploring the
internet. You don’t have to waste 12 bucks and 2 hours of
your life on a vacuous film.
Magic
Mike XXL is rated R for strong sexual
content, pervasive language, some nudity and drug use.
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