Magic Mike XXL (2015)

June 30, 2015 11:53 AM

Three years after Mike bowed out of the stripper life at the top of his game, he and the remaining Kings of Tampa hit the road to Myrtle Beach to put on one last blow-out performance.

"Magic Mike XXL is basically Homer's Odyssey with male strippers", by Alex Abad-Santos for Vox:

"To fully appreciate Magic Mike XXL, you must accept that its predecessor, Magic Mike, was a fraudulent bait-and-switch. The 2012 Steven Soderbergh film was billed as a silly, Florida-set tale of good-looking male strippers (played by good-looking actors) flaunting butts carved from marble and poreless pecs, all of which ends in a cascade of dollar bills and G-strings. In actuality, though, the stripping became a garnish to the movie's heavier subject matter, which involved drug-dealing, the financial collapse, and a dour fear of growing old.

"While Magic Mike made for a fine drama, it betrayed the basic understanding between audience and stripper film, which is that people pay money to view a motion picture where muscled men grind on women, other men, and inanimate objects like poles, floors, and chairs for at least 50 percent of the runtime.

"Thankfully, that isn't the case with the sequel.

"Director Gregory Jacobs and screenwriter Reid Carolin's Magic Mike XXL is the cinematic inverse to Magic Mike, swapping out the drama for wild, blazing cuts at physical comedy and leaving behind the first film's dark aches for a friendly happiness."

The whole article at Vox.

Links
Magic Mike XXL - Official Teaser Trailer
Magic Mike XXL Official Trailer #2

posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome (17 comments total)

The trailers have a surprising amount of humor and self-parody in them, and the Vox article goes on to state, "The result is a tremendously more enjoyable movie than the first, and one of the funniest movies of the year."
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 11:57 AM on June 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

Oh man I CAN'T WAIT for this.
posted by mathowie at 12:25 PM on June 30, 2015 [3 favorites]

The "fine drama" parts of the first one was why I enjoyed it, so I am a little saddened by this. I'm still going to watch this, even if it is just for tWitch.
posted by Requiax at 2:36 PM on June 30, 2015 [2 favorites]

I'm psychedddd
posted by easter queen at 9:19 AM on July 1, 2015

The "fine drama" parts of the first one was why I enjoyed it, so I am a little saddened by this.

I enjoyed that part of it too, but there was definitley a bait-and-switch within the dramatic story as well, where Intelligent Female Character got swapped out about two-thirds of the way through for Passive Love Interest. I'm hoping with a more frivolous overall expectation this time there won't be as much of a letdown.
posted by psoas at 11:44 AM on July 1, 2015

Calling it now, Donald Glover's song achieves what Ladies of Tampa could not and gets nominated for Best Original Song (I mean, why not?).
posted by everybody had matching towels at 8:30 PM on July 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

Roxane Gay knows what's up.
posted by almostmanda at 6:20 AM on July 4, 2015 [10 favorites]

Note to cisgender males who might dismiss this automatically because you think hetero male culture might demand it: This is a super-entertaining movie, even if you lack the ability to be aroused by all of the male dancing. There's too much infectious positivity not to have a great time, as long as you can accept that it's basically a pretty shallow ensemble character study with almost no plot (that's really actually about women's sexuality from the perspective of men who give a shit). I'm jealous of all of the women I saw it with, who had the great time that I did PLUS got to enjoy incredible specimens of the gender to which they're attracted gyrating for like 90 minutes of the 2-hour movie.

(And SPOILER ALERT, if you really need it to draw you to the movie: 45-going-on-25 Jada Pinkett Smith does have an all-too-brief lingerie scene and a kiss with Elizabeth Banks.)

If you see it and you don't cheer at the conclusion of Joe Manganiello's convenience store scene, then sorry, I was talking to everyone else.
posted by doctornecessiter at 6:00 AM on July 6, 2015 [8 favorites]

Just saw it. The fact that this is a road trip where each stop offers an education in respecting and valuing women's needs (and not just sexual needs) and that the men learn to do this by honestly expressing themselves, this film feels as feminist as Mad Max, and if it were to have a "all the lines spoken by a person of color" video, I suspect it would be half an hour of the film's running time. Hell, the climax is entirely given over to Jada Pinkett and Donald Glover's voices.
posted by maxsparber at 5:25 PM on July 7, 2015 [12 favorites]

(Channing Tatum is 'very pro-feminism', wants to talk to Roxane Gay about the upcoming ‘Magic Mike’ tour. Snippet: "'Feminist' is like a hard word for me to throw around. I would love to say I'm a feminist but I don't study feminism, so I can't just go, like, 'Yes, I'm a feminist!'. But I'm very pro-feminism. I wanna talk to her [Roxane Gay] about the Magic Mike show.")
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 6:45 PM on July 7, 2015 [7 favorites]

I saw this a couple nights ago, and wow, it was just delightful. So good-natured and good-hearted, full of joy in its premise and in its characters. It was definitely nice seeing all those extremely attractive men bump and grind their way through the movie, and as a film it could have coasted by on that, but it didn't, and that was great! There was some genuine heart here. I did not like the first one at all, so I had planned on skipping this one until I heard that it was a decidedly less grim affair than Magic Mike.

Also, I think I saw someone elsewhere remark upon this too, but I was so pleased to not see a single hint of "NO HOMO" between the male characters. As a feminist, I think it's really important to show positive, supportive models masculinity, and this movie is like the platonic ideal of that. The Magic Mike guys have emotional conversations and share beds and are physically affectionate with one another and talk to each other about their goals and not once. Not once! Does anyone utter anything that could be taken as "lol I'm not gay" or "not to be a girl about this" or something like that. The closest they get is calling Big Dick Rick a pussy for trying to chicken out on making that gas station attendant smile.

And I really liked too that these guys weren't solving huge problems for the women they met while on the road. They met women who were a little down, who were feeling unappreciated or unwanted, and they cheered them up. They made them laugh, they made them feel wanted, they made them feel listened to. These are women who are going to walk away with a smile on their face and a bounce in their step, and that's fine, because they didn't need true love! They needed to have a bit of fun, and the men of Magic Mike XXL are happy to provide that.
posted by yasaman at 2:51 PM on July 9, 2015 [11 favorites]

I finally saw this after a week of not being able to and I enjoyed the hell out of it. There were so many great parts to it, but most of it was so ridiculous and infectious that I can't imagine anyone coming away from the theater without a smile on their face and a bounce in their step.

My favorite part was the final show. It really did look like the women in the audience had no idea what was going on as they filmed it, as if they really did just helicopter in Channing Tatum and his friends and surprise a giant room full of women. The reactions from the woman in the stirrup-y sex chair dance were a natural mix of shock, laughter, and surprise in a way I don't think anyone could fake, no matter how good of an actor they were. It looked like a real honest-to-goodness party and was fun as hell to watch.
posted by mathowie at 7:09 PM on July 14, 2015 [5 favorites]

Finally saw this. Totally worth the trip. And also this is a good excuse to post my favorite tumblr of all time: People dancing alone to Pony
posted by mostly vowels at 7:16 PM on July 21, 2015

I just saw this and man what a delight! Apart from all the eye candy (delicious, delicious eye candy), this is the most fat-positive mainstream movie I think I've ever seen. A number of the . . . featured clients? of the strippers are fat women, ranging from "Hollywood fat" to like actually fat, and neither the actors nor the camera ever treats them as disgusting, pathetic, jokes, etc. They are treated as people who are here for what the strippers are bringing, and who are loving it and deserve to love it. That is so rare I can't even tell you.
posted by KathrynT at 9:33 PM on July 25, 2015 [8 favorites]

Just saw it yesterday and loved it so much.

One of the scenes I liked was in the breakfast nook after Andie MacDowell's character (Nancy?) and Richie have hooked up. All the other guys are thrilled for Richie, but it's not yeah you dawg you did it bet that old broad never had it that good, it's dude! you met somebody! and she likes you and you had awesome sex together! and she wants to see you again!

There were so many moments when I was expecting the usual tropey choice and they didn't take it. The scene where they're arguing about who has to wake Tarzan up and Tito hefts the football and says "I'll do it!" Most bro-type comedies would have shown the entire sequence: Tito throws the ball, it hits Tarzan, Tarzan awakes abruptly and is angry, Tarzan charges after Tito while yelling, etc. etc. etc. Only... they didn't. "I'll do it!" and bam, cut to the next shot of the truck rolling down the highway.

Loved it. Want to see it again in the theater (I hope they have the volume up louder this time). Going to pre-order the DVD.
posted by Lexica at 11:26 AM on July 27, 2015 [2 favorites]

Saw it last night, and enjoyed the hell out of it; the sculpted abs are the sugarcoating for subversive ideas.

Here are men supporting one another without the "no homo" vibe: Mike going to the "wake"; Mike's comments about the goodness of the yogurt; the encouragement to put aside the disguises of masculinity (whether fireman or cowboy) and express authenticity; the ill-fated group meditation; the cheering on of a man who finds a solution to a problem that's serious for him; the joy with which they reunite when one member of the group gets out of the hospital; Mike's worry over his employee's healthcare. There are no women to be facilitators of authentic manliness here; men help one another do it, because it helps them be better people.

Here are men listening to women: Mike silently observing and learning from Rome's business lesson; Mike watching Rome work her magic to get them a slot at the convention; that hilarious cake vs. cookie discussion in the kitchen; the women in the living room speaking from their hearts and the men responding to the emotions expressed in a way that is fitted to the women.

Here are men interacting with women as people, respectfully: Mike and Zoe on the beach; Mike not pressuring Rome for cooperation; Andre singing to Caroline and weaving in her details.

Here are men doing things that bring them joy and satisfaction: Mike dancing for the sheer hell of it; Fro-Yo; hanging out with buddies, watching the fireworks; figuring out what they themselves have to express.

Here are women of various colors and sizes and ages rocking out with their sexuality.

Here are women who want.

Here are women in charge of organizations.

Here are men and women interacting with each other with banter, and stories, and actions that reflect, at some gut level, "I get it, and act in the spirit of that understanding of you."

Here is tolerance and freakiness and fun and being human and the daily grind and emotion and sexuality and ridiculous coincidence all happening at the same time to everyone in a big, joyous mess.

And everyone in the theater laughed and blushed and recognized themselves and others.

What's not to like?
posted by MonkeyToes at 8:41 AM on July 30, 2015 [17 favorites]

Yeah this was way more awesome than it had any right to be.

One of the scenes I liked was in the breakfast nook after Andie MacDowell's character (Nancy?) and Richie have hooked up. All the other guys are thrilled for Richie, but it's not yeah you dawg you did it bet that old broad never had it that good, it's dude! you met somebody! and she likes you and you had awesome sex together! and she wants to see you again!
Andie MacDowell did a great job in this movie. I love her response when Richie tells her character that "it still is her day." Just shock, then a dawning realization that it might BE ON.
posted by jeoc at 2:57 PM on August 1, 2015 [2 favorites]