You know what you’re getting into when you buy a ticket for a movie like ‘Magic Mike XXL’. I mean come on, it’s a movie about male strippers…sorry male “entertainers”. Most of the movie is super attractive, muscular men dancing and removing clothes to a beat. It’s got a wonderful entertainment value for a woman! Obviously if you’re a man, STAY AWAY! Although I did see one or two guys in the theater. To those brave men who are forced to go see this movie with their woman, I salute you! Literally there is nothing in it for men (unless you’re into men, in which case, you will enjoy it just as much as the ladies!) It does not have that good of a story, or dialogue. I wonder how long it took the guys to learn all of their lines because there really weren’t that many, comparatively. I almost expected Tom Hardy to come out and do a ‘Mad Max’ routine with how few lines there were. The few scenes in which they actually tried to express an emotional dialogue were awkward. Channing Tatum and Amber Heard have so much less chemistry than he had with Cody Horn. At least with Cody it was amusing at times. Amber is hard to engage with.
In between what little dialogue and “emotional” scenes the movie included were just insane amounts of loud, thumping music and those extremely fit men dancing. In my opinion there was too much. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate a well maintained male physique gyrating and removing his clothes, but that’s ALL THERE WAS. At least in the first movie there was back story and interesting characters. In MMXXL they introduce new characters, like Jada Pinkett Smith’s ‘Rome’. There’s some weird past between her and Mike which serves more awkward unnecessary make-out sessions and a dance/strip off.
The “story line” is Mike has taken a three year hiatus from stripping to pursue his custom furniture building dreams. When the original crew (minus Dallas and The Kid) contacts him, he decides to take one last ride to Myrtle Beach for the annual stripper convention. Along the way they meet up with Jada’s character, Tito gets injured in a bump on their journey, and they make friends with some strange women from Georgia. It’s all weird. It’s all a down-hill story. The ONLY benefit of watching this movie is the extremely attractive men.
Cinema Wise is giving ‘Magic Mike XXL’ a 2.5 out of 5. Men avoid it, women watch it once to gaze upon the luscious male bodies and be done with it. If you’re looking for a good plot or story, this isn’t the movie to see.
This review brought to you by Marisa.
Cinema Wise 