My thoughts on Magic Mike XXL 

In case, you have been under a rock and haven’t seen the numerous suggestive trailers of Channing Tatum twisting himself into a convulsive pretzel, I’ll help you out and let you know that the sequel to Magic Mike is out and is ready for the squeals of many an American woman.

If you didn’t watch the first movie, it’s about 5 strippers who…actually that’s pretty much what the first movie was about. We just got to watch ripped men, an assless chapped Matthew McConaughey and a special strip routine by Channing Tatum (who plays Mike) to Ginuwine’s “Pony”.

The sequel picks up with Mike as a custom furniture designer and 3 years since he retired from stripping. Missing his old crew and the excitement from being on stage (as evidenced by a strange scene in his workshop) he reunites with his friends and agrees to go on a road trip with them to Myrtle Beach for the annual male strippers convention. With Dallas not their boss anymore, they decide to switch up everything and get new routines and find a new MC. Which leads us to Rome (played by Jada Pinkett Smith) and her empire also referred to as a “subscription based pleasure house”. She is an old fling of Mike’s who he recruits as their new MC.

Yours truly will not lie to you – this movie was boring. Trust me, I was not expecting depth and intelligence. The first movie was pure fun and dance routines. They took themselves too seriously this time and there was waaaay too much talking (a fellow movie watcher said the same thing at the end of the movie). I kid you not, I nodded off at a certain point. See, I know they went for beauty over dance talent from the first movie because besides Tatum, the rest of the guys aren’t much of dancers which fascinates me that they couldn’t just get both for the roles. This weakness really showed in the sequel and can be evidenced in Joe Mangienello, still a stiff actor. His solo dance routine bordered on silly.

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Now, the bright spots were the new additions to the movie. I remember when I watched the first movie I seriously stated that Matthew McConaughey deserved a nomination for his role. If anyone was going to take his place, I have to say Jada Pinkett Smith did a great job as their new MC. She was sexy, mysterious and charismatic. Twitch, a dancer most famously known for being on “So You Think You Can Dance” was great as a dancer and a good partner for Tatum. Their routine at the end of the movie was the highlight and best part of the movie. It was really good. Too bad it was just a few minutes. I have no idea why Donald Glover was in this movie. His role was pointless. Also, like the first movie, the romantic interest for Tatum was a dud.

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Overall, I am not sure I would recommend seeing this in theaters. I’d wait for DVD. If you have seen it, what did you think?

*gifs from thetoast.net