Delayed Reaction: Magic Mike XXL

Premise: The guys go on the road to Myrtle Beach for a stripper...convention(?).

 

The most common complaint about sequels is that they try to be "the same, but more". With a title like Magic Mike XXL, I fully assumed this movie would be the same. And, in the world of unneeded sequels, it's hard to find a movie less in need of a sequel than Magic Mike. Sure, it was popular for the stripping men (it had some other nakedness too), but it really was a pretty sincere drama about a male stripper with dreams of doing something else. It even got fringe Oscar consideration as an early McConaissance movie. I really didn't need more than that movie, and it was hard to imagine a way to do a sequel that wouldn't feel desperate.

 

On paper, Magic Mike XXL does feel desperate. Steven Soderbergh dropped off as director. He was replaced by a director who hasn't made anything else I’ve heard of and hadn't directed anything in 8 years. Matthew McConaughey left. While he wasn't the star of the first movie, he was key to its respectability. As this movie begins, it does all the lazy sequel tricks. It undoes most of what's developed since the first movie. Mike's (Channing Tatum) girl left him. He's working as a furniture maker now, but he feels the pull to dance again. With no McConaughey, the whole crew feel like a band of misfit toys. Even the "let's go to a stripper convention" motivation seems pretty lazy.

 

Yet, this movie kind of rules.

 

It does so by tying something that not many sequels do: it pivots to a different kind of movie. XXL is a road trip/hang-out movie. It's the equivalent of the characters in a sitcom going on a vacation episode. It literally has a scene where they throw Mike's concerns about the outside world out a window. And it works so well. This is a movie about Mike, Richie (Joe Manganiello), Ken (Matt Bomer), Tito (Adam Rodriguez), and Tarzan (Kevin Nash) hanging out. They go on this flimsy Southeast coast road trip and have adventures the whole way. The road trip movie is one of my favorite movie types because it is so easy to get right. There doesn't have to be a strong central plot. There just has to be a lot of fun short stories. XXL has really fun short stories. Ritchie dancing to get the gas station employee's attention is great. Everything with Jada Pinkett Smith and Donald Glover is a great time. Andie McDowell's house is a blast. And the movie culminates in stripper convention routines that don't disappoint.

 

The movie even has fun with the fact that it shouldn't exist. McConaughey's absence is felt profoundly and commented upon often. The whole mission of the movie is a fool's errand. This is their "one last job". They are all either out of the business or getting out of the business. It hints at how most of the men realize that their dreams have passed them by or aren't what they expected, but they are purposely putting those thoughts away right now. This is their one last hurrah: a mirage in the middle of their lives. That's why it isn't even annoying to see them fall-upward, Entourage style, where everything just magically works out for them.

 

It helps that everyone in the cast is dialed into the same frequency. Tatum and Manganiello love making fools of themselves. Matt Bomer got the memo that you don't need comedic timing if you just do really silly things very seriously. Jada Pinkett Smith is just awesome in this. It's easy to imagine how she made this then decided she needed to do Girls Trip. It's a lot of the same energy. I'm more torn about Donald Glover in this. The part of me that misses Community-era Glover is sad thinking about how funny he could've been cutting it up with this group. He's good though. Just a lot more restrained.

 

Also, let's just say it's hard to imagine how anyone could watch this movie without the temperature in the room going up a few degrees.

 

Even though I'd been warned that this movie was sneaky good, I was still very surprised by how much I enjoyed it. 2015 really is the year that just keeps on giving. I'm in the early phases right now of a new edition of my top movies of all-time list, and it's ridiculous how deep that year is. I'm not even sure this breaks into my top 20 of 2015 and I loved it.

 

Verdict: Strongly Recommend