+ Best Dance Movie of the Year
+ Best Shooting Star Actor of the Year (Donald Glover)
 |
| The five recurring stars of Gregory Jacobs' Magic Mike XXL |
So this is gonna sound silly... Here's a plot outline for Magic Mike XXL:
Mike is trying to run his carpenter business, but when he hears the song he used to dance for, he decides it's time to go with the decimated 'Kings of Tampa' on a trip to make his dent at the stripper convention in Florida.
No doubt XXL is a worthy follow-up to Steven Soderbergh's stripper hit Magic Mike (2012). - Audiences love it, and it is an extremely light, good time at any cinema this overheated summer. The inferences coming are minor, - I certainly didn't miss either Matthew McConaughey or Alex Pettyfer from the previous film, - and I am in fact very close to awarding the film its fourth ♥.
Soderbergh serves only as cinematographer and editor of XXL, as he has left the director's chair for his long-time first assistant director Gregory Jacobs (Wind Chill (2007)). Reid Carolin (Magic Mike) is back as writer and producer, and the tone is similar to the first film, though the hint of seriousness in the first film, - McConaughey's douchey character, the drug issue theme, - is totally gone in XXL. This Magic Mike is pretty much all fun and games, - and some spectacular male stripping!
- What's not to love?
 |
| Young Donald Glover is my favorite added value in Gregory Jacobs' Magic Mike XXL - look out for him in the future! |
A rundown of the most enjoyable actors in the new movie:
Channing Tatum (Jupiter Ascending (2015)) is back in top shape and can still move like you wouldn't believe. Joe Manganiello (Sabotage (2014)) gets a more prominent part in the new film; he is a welcome enhancement, funny and sexy. Adam Rodriguez (About Last Night (2014)) is also a looker, and his final performance is probably the best of all of them. Of fresh faces, we get Stephen 'tWitch' Boss (Step Up 4: Miami Heat (2012)), an amazing dancer giving another of the film's best dances in the club owned (in the film) by Jada Pinkett Smith (The Nutty Professor (1996)), who acts out her cool character with flair and gusto aplenty. Andie McDowell (Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)) is another stop on the way for the guys; she has a memorable role, - and still looks great, - in XXL. Finally there's Donald Glover (Community (2009-14)), my favorite addition, a very promising young actor.
OK so here are the small problems with Jacobs' male stripper romp: First of all, the team behind it have teased that the sequel would have something in it especially for the gay audiences, which, besides a short stop at a drag bar in the beginning, it really doesn't have at all. - Major disappointment.
Secondly, Matt Bomer's (The Normal Heart (2014)) character is really pissed at Tatum's for something that is never really clear. Perhaps those two should have had the gay storyline that apparently couldn't be apart of something as pristine as the sequel to a movie about male strippers... - Let me know your opinion in a comment, if you have one.
Lastly, the skimpy plot grinds around in at least two clichés: The guys visit the black strip club, which is a paradise of lush, no-holds-barred passion; then they visit a house full of middle-aged, wealthy, white women, who are (of course) sexually neglected and a bit sad.
But there's still some fun characters, game actors, many amusing scenes and crazy male stripping, which makes up a really big chunk of the film, just as it should be.
Related posts:
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Magic Mike (2012) - Soderbergh and Tatum score big with cheeky male stripper romp
 |
| Stephen 'tWitch' Boss lets you enjoy his formidable body and moves in Gregory Jacobs' Magic Mike XXL |
 |
| Adam Rodriguez is back for Gregory Jacobs' Magic Mike XXL |
Cost: 14.8 mil. $
Box office: 21.3 mil. $ and counting
= Too early to say
[XXL only opened July 1st, and so the first weekend's gross is not even in yet, but it looks like a sure bet that it's gonna make a lot of dough, especially because it has a surprisingly low reported cost. - Probably key people in and behind it are taking profit percentages instead of salaries.]
What do you think of Magic Mike XXL?
No comments:
Post a Comment