Magic Mike XXL

Gleeful shrieks have rung out from cinemas around the world as the sequel to 2012’s Magic Mike slides half-naked into theatres.

Magic Mike XXL does what it says on the muscle-flexing tin. It’s a collection of scenes created with the sole purpose of getting the target audience “frothing” (as radio DJ Maz Compton so aptly put it at the Sydney premiere arena event).

Funny, entertaining and mostly gratuitous scenes are strung together with a barely-there plot about ‘getting back to the grind’, as Mike (Channing Tatum) and the remaining ‘Kings of Tampa’ take a boys road trip for one last hurrah at a stripper convention. Of course they meet a host of horny women and get themselves into mischief along the way.

This time the Kings are joined by Andre (Donald Glover) and Malik (Stephen Boss aka tWitch), with Jada Pinkett Smith as their sultry, powerful queen and MC, Rome.

Overall Magic Mike XXL is unapologetically cheesy and unabashedly entertaining, if only for the dance routines… and the stripping… which is basically the whole film. Squeal on, queens. (LL)

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