The undercurrent of economic insecurity is gone, replaced by a generic, “get-the-band-back-together” plot, but this sequel to Magic Mike still shines as a movie musical. Early on in Magic Mike XXL—where the directorial reins have been passed from Steven Soderbergh to Gregory Jacobs—Channing Tatum’s Mike Lane is hard at work crafting furniture when Ginuwine’s “Pony” pops up on his playlist. Though Mike has left the male-entertainment scene behind to grow his furniture business, he can’t resist the beats of his former, signature number. At first he shakes his head (though he’s wearing a welder’s mask, you can still sense the smile), but soon he’s sharpening tools to the beat, sparks flying in the air. Magic Mike XXL’s best moments—from Joe Manganiello’s comically seductive convenience-store performance to Donald Glover’s improvised rap scene—work similarly, celebrating music, movement, and physical talent with cleverness and humor. Returning screenwriter Reid Carolin may push the stripper-as-artist motif a bit too far—especially with a never-ending climactic group number in which each of Mike’s friends gets a chance to express their dreams in a series of corny routines—but the movie’s sense of playfulness and camaraderie survives that. Aside from Glover, the entertaining new faces include Jada Pinkett Smith, Andie MacDowell, Elizabeth Banks, Amber Heard, and Michael Strahan, the latter of whom has a cameo in which he wears little more than his gap-toothed smile.
(2/4/2023)
