Magic Mike XXL

Magic Mike XXL (15)

USA 2015 115 mins Dir: Gregory Jacobs Cast: Channing Tatum, Joe Manganiello, Matt Bomer, Kevin Nash, Jada Pinkett Smith, Elizabeth Banks, Andie McDowell

Chiselled hunk of man meat Magic Mike (Channing Tatum) continues his quest to be seen as more than a walking pair of abs in Magic Mike XXL. Actually, that was the plot of its predecessor; Steven Soderbergh’s surprise 2012 hit Magic Mike. That movie took a snigger-inducing premise, the world of male stripping, and invested it with a degree of sincerity and pathos, aided by star Tatum drawing on his own experiences in the field.

XXL by contrast is the movie equivalent of a hen do: if it were a person, it’d likely be a woman waving a 50 dollar bill around and shouting ‘more!’ Not that there’s anything wrong with that: the movie might trade in the first movie’s sense of perception for a broader sense of fun but when the characters are this well drawn and the performances this enjoyable, it’s hard to quibble. Following his contested decision to retire from directing, Soderbergh has now retreated behind the camera and relinquished control to the previous film’s cinematographer Gregory Jacobs.

Key to the film’s success, as before, is Tatum’s highly enjoyable central performance. At the end of Magic Mike, the title character took his final shirtless bow and retired from stripping, leaving behind his loyal troupe the Kings of Tampa. Three years later, Mike has started up his own furniture business but finds the lure of the stage too much to resist, indulging in a synchronised bit of Flashdance-esque welding to the sound of Ginuwine’s Pony (surely set to become the pre-wedding anthem of women around the world).

Reuniting with the Kings of Tampa, Mike hits the road to Myrtle Beach in Carolina for one final showstopper to end them all. As before, he’s joined by Richie (Joe Manganiello), Ken (Matt Bomer), Tarzan (Kevin Nash) and Tito (Adam Rodriguez), all of whom are treated to a pleasing degree of character development that was perhaps lacking in the first movie. XXL creates a real sense of camaraderie between the guys, and their various crises are nicely sketched, whether it’s Richie’s attempts to come up with an even more outrageous act (resulting in a hilarious scene in a gas station) or Ken’s resentment that Mike left the group.

By its very nature, the plot is now more episodic than before, mixing bawdy bromance with frequent longueurs as the guys regularly stop off en route to interact with various characters, the best of which being Jada Pinkett Smith as tough-talking male entertainment guru Rome. Yet whilst Jacobs doesn’t quite have the perceptive touch or storytelling chops of Soderbergh, it’s difficult not to grin (or whoop) during the lavishly excessive climactic dance sequence, one in which the male form is unashamedly put on display for the baying crowds. Yet the real reason why it works is Tatum: possessed of an unassuming star quality, and able to convey both emotion and humour with the gentlest of touches, he is able to put a likeably human face on material that could easily be laughed out of the room. When Mike begins a flirtatious connection with photographer Zoe (Amber Heard), their chemistry crackles with real conviction. Goes to show the movie has intelligence to go with its oiled pecs.