Summer is when the big studios bring out their biggest, most
compulsively crowd-pleasing entertainments. The films of the season are less
concerned with delving into the human condition than making sure you and your
friends have a good time (they’d also like your money, please and thank you).
Fall is when we go to the movies to be challenged, summer is when we go for
instant gratification, and for my money there’s no more pleasurable movie out
there than the raucously entertaining “Magic Mike XXL.”
The first
“Magic Mike” was a relatively serious, recession-era fable smuggled inside a
leopard-print banana hammock. Director Steven Soderbergh
lent that film more depth than anyone expected (or, arguably, wanted) from a
movie with a sizeable portion of its budget earmarked for thongs. For its
sequel, “Magic Mike XXL,” Soderbergh has handed over
directing duties to his longtime A.D., Gregory Jacobs, (though he’s still on
board as a producer, cinematographer, and editor — the last two under
pseudonyms).
The result
is a film solely concerned with pleasure, female pleasure, specifically; sorry
fellas, this film could not give a f*** what you think of it. A healthy dose of
gratuitous man-ass aside, your enjoyment will ultimately depend on how much of
the original film you spent wishing for the plot to disappear so you could
spend time hanging out with its characters.
The plot
could fit on a Post-it. Having left stripping behind at the conclusion of the
first film, Mike Lane (Channing Tatum) successfully started his own custom
furniture business. But his dreams aren’t paying the bills — he’s not even able
to pay for his sole employee’s health care. Mike can’t resist the siren
call of the old bump-and-grind, and reunites with his Kings of Tampa crew: Ken
(Matt Bomer), Big Dick Richie (Joe Manganiello), Tito (Adam Rodriguez), and Tarzan (Kevin
Nash). Though both were major subjects in the first film, the absence of
Matthew McConaughey’s Dallas and Alex Pettyfer’s The Kid is explained away in a few brief lines
of dialogue.
Any hard
feelings over Mike’s desertion are worked through rather quickly — all the
better for the film to settle into its easygoing vibe. Together once again, the
gang piles into a yogurt truck to drive down to Myrtle Beach for a stripper
convention (by all accounts, such things actually exist). And uh, that’s pretty
much it. The film unfolds as a series of exuberant, escalating set pieces on the
way to the big finale: The boys enter a drag club vogueing
competition; visit the Georgia mansion that houses the pleasure palace operated
by Rome (a beautiful and commanding Jada Pinkett
Smith) where her mostly black clientele can be worshipped like queens; and stop
by the home of middle-aged Southern belle Nancy (a delightful Andie Macdowell) and her sexually unfulfilled friends.
Along the
way, the Kings of Tampa each discover their passion, and the inspiration it
provides allows them to become better, more authentic entertainers. Or
something. I dunno, there’s a lot of pelvic thrusting
and tearaway pants, and it’s glorious.
“Magic Mike
XXL” celebrates female sexuality in a way that’s endearingly heartfelt. The
women depicted come in every age, ethnicity, and body type, and they’re all
made to feel beautiful and desirable, free from any judgments. Whether or not
what the film sees as sexy would translate to the real world is another
question entirely — I’m not sure every woman out there would be quite as
ecstatic to be faux-ejaculated on with whipped cream as the ones depicted here.
But as fantasy it works; at least it does judging by the appreciative hoots and
hollers coming from the audience at my screening.
This is a
film that knows exactly what it wants to do, and in terms of achieving those
goals, the film is damn near perfect. With a message about doing what makes you
happy and having fun doing it, you’re guaranteed to leave with a smile on your
face; this film wants nothing more than to please you.
This article appears in Jul 8-14, 2015.
