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“Magic Mike XXL” is this summer’s feel-good coming of (middle) age story

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Channing Tatum returns as Magic Mike in "Magic Mike XXL". Photo by Claudette Barius.

Channing Tatum returns as Magic Mike in “Magic Mike XXL”. Photo by Claudette Barius.

I’m not gay or nothing, but I really liked the first Magic Mike movie a few years ago. At first I only went to see it because I thought John Cena was the star. Then I realized that was actually Channing Tatum, who was in those G.I. Joe movies with The Rock. He also played a wrassler in that Foxcatcher movie. So, he’s pretty good. But then I saw that Kevin Nash was in it, and it’s just too sweet to see Big Sexy getting some screen time.

Since I thought the first movie was pretty good, I figured I’d Magic Mike XXL, too. I’m actually trying to get down to a size XXL T-shirt. I used to wear 6X, but now I’m down to 5X. Been eatin’ a little better, you know. MMXXL takes place three years after the first movie, which actually came out three years ago. Magic Mike has gotten out of the stripper industry and handles his wood a lot. I realize how that sounds, but what I mean is that he has become a carpenter. He said he wanted to build furniture in the first movie, so I guess he has grabbed that brass ring and is living the dream.

Kevin Nash stars as Tarzan in "Magic Mike XXL". Photo by Claudette Barius.

Kevin Nash stars as Tarzan in “Magic Mike XXL”. Photo by Claudette Barius.

Tarzan (that’s Kevin Nash’s gimmick) calls him one day and says the Kings of Tampa are getting the band back together to compete in a stripper contest in Myrtle Beach. Dallas (Matthew McConaughey, not Page) is no longer the leader of their faction, but it looks like the rest of the stable is back. Even Gabriel Iglesias, who is friends with Dallas Page in real life, is back as a food truck vendor. Even though he’s been doing DDP Yoga, he’s still not in as good a shape as the rest of this clique. I guess that’s why they call him Fluffy.

So they leave Tampa in the food truck for what turns into more of a road trip adventure than a stripper movie. One of the first things they decide to do before they get to Myrtle Beach is to change their gimmicks up a little bit. So they actually end up throwing all their gimmicks from the first movie out the window before Fluffy falls asleep at the wheel and wrecks the food truck. Then they go to Savannah to visit Mike’s old friend Rome (Jada Pinkett Smith), who runs a private male strip club. She basically becomes their manager, helps them come up with new gimmicks and adds a few of her boys to the stable.

Before they get to Myrtle Beach, they meet up with Nancy (Andie MacDowell) and her friends so they can practice their spots, if you know what I mean. When they get to the stripper convention, Elizabeth Banks is running the show and isn’t going to let them in. Then she sees Rome and I guess they have some history because then she lets them in. (I haven’t seen Pitch Perfect 2 yet because I never saw the first one. But did you know Banks directed that movie, and that Lana is in it? It might be pretty good.)

Joe Manganiello is Big Dick Richie in "Magic Mike XXL". Photo by Claudette Barius.

Joe Manganiello is Big Dick Richie in “Magic Mike XXL”. Photo by Claudette Barius.

At first it looks like the Kings of Tampa might not go over. There’s some other group doing a Twilight gimmick that the crowd is really popping for. Big Dick Richie (Joe Manganiello) gets mad and calls it “vampire bullshit,” which is funny because my cousin told me Big Dick played a werewolf on True Blood. I also saw him on Raw one time, and I think he was in a WWE movie with Mr. Kennedy.

The Kings of Tampa end up showing that they are true veterans of this business and the crowd lets them know they’ve still got it. A lot of times it looks like they are doing wrestling moves on women from the audience, but they’re working pretty light so no one actually gets hurt. The dirt sheets say Ric Flair was supposed to be in this movie, but I didn’t see him. But I definitely would have popped to see The Nature Boy stylin’ and profilin’ on the big screen. Still, Magic Mike XXL is a feel-good movie that plays out like a wrasslin’ angle about workers who are a little past their primes getting one last run before they ride off into the sunset. I mean, it makes me feel pretty good.

“Magic Mike” reveals more than just hard bodies and party lifestyle

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Tito (Adam Rodríguez), Big Dick Richie (Joe Manganiello), Adam the Kid (Alex Pettyfer), Dallas (Matthew McConaughey, Magic Mike (Channing Tatum), Tarzan (Kevin Nash) and Ken (Matt Bomer) offer a unique salute in “Magic Mike” (photo courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures)

 

 

 

If it seems like Channing Tatum was made for the role of Mike Lane in Magic Mike, it’s because he was. Before he was the charmingly chiseled star of chick flicks, dramas, comedies and action movies, he spent some time on the stage of a Tampa strip club. And since this ultimate girls-night-out indulgence is about an exotic dancer starring in a male revue at a Tampa strip club, this truly is the role Tatum was meant to play (mostly because he already has).

But as is the case with most strippers (male or female), dancing is just a means to an end for Mike, who hopes to utilize his talents as a furniture designer to get out of the club world before it’s too late (and before he’s too old). And when he meets Adam (Alex Pettyfer), a good-looking kid struggling to secure an income while freeloading off his sister (Cody Horn), it seems like it’s only a matter of time before Adam replaces Mike (already in his 30s, which is ancient in this world) as the star of the show. It looks like one big cheesy cliché, and it is in many ways. But somehow it’s not as gratuitous as it seems, with intriguing characters and plot that have depth while remaining superficial enough for those looking for a bachelorette party without needing a stack of ones.

Mike (Tatum), Brooke (Cody Horn) and Joanna (Olivia Munn) have an awkward moment in “Magic Mike” (photo by Claudette Barius)

What I didn’t realize before seeing Magic Mike is that it’s directed by Steven Soderbergh, who previously worked with Tatum on 2011’s Haywire (read my review here). And just as he’s done with the Ocean’s Eleven series, Traffic and other films, he handles this ensemble cast (Matthew McConaughey, Matt Borner, Joe Manganiello, Gabriel Iglesias, Adam Rodríguez, Kevin Nash) rather adeptly. But given the subject matter, Magic Mike strikes a balance between comedic ridiculousness and the grim realities of a man who works odd jobs by day, but whose professional life (and social/sexual escapades) revolves around a dangerous and empty lifestyle.

That being said, Magic Mike never falls into the typical stripper movie trappings of getting too depressing. Sure, Adam (usually referred to simply as “The Kid”) gets caught up in the lifestyle while also becoming the favorite of Dallas (McConaughey), the former dancer now running the show. And while Mike’s charm allows him to work such magic as the occasional threesome with his regular booty call (Olivia Munn) and working roomfuls of horny women into a frenzy, he struggles to maintain any meaningful relationships or achieve his real creative passion. But we’re still talking about male strippers here, so even if seeing a guy shave his legs for the first time and put on a patriotic thong wasn’t funny enough on its own, Soderbergh and his cast deliver such scenes with enough lighthearted comic relief to counter the otherwise depressing reality of it all.

Kevin Nash as Tarzan in “Magic Mike” (photo courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures)

Not that most people will be paying much attention to him, but Nash‘s performance here is about as good as his last few in-ring showings (which is to say that he has a hard time keeping up with the moves of the much younger and more athletic guys around him). But given his character Tarzan’s obvious age difference and his predisposition for an occasional overindulgence, Tarzan’s tear-away pants fit Nash pretty well. And as the layers are gradually peeled off the nervous chemistry between Tatum and Horn, we see that opposites really do sometimes attract, especially when they realize they actually have similar interests (and not just a love for breakfast food). So don’t let Magic Mike‘s outer appearance fool you; once you see what’s underneath it’s a lot more than just hard bodies and fast living.

Magic Mike. Directed by Steven Soderbergh. Starring Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Matthew McConaughey and Cody Horn. Rated R. magicmikemovie.warnerbros.com.