Three years down the lane after Mike retired from been a stage performer and stripper, for one last time he and the other kings hit the road to a beach for a memorable performance.
Tatum has come a long way since his "Step Up" days (he was excellent in last year's "Foxcatcher"), but he makes a number of unfortunate choices here.
Flavorwire
May 28, 2016
If the film looks and moves like a Soderbergh movie, it has a different feel than the original; it's lighter, for good and ill, an encore without much of an agenda.
Tatum and Manganiello in particular are clearly having a terrific time. It's no Toy Story 2, but as sequels go, Magic Mike XXL is a pony worth climbing on again.
If anything, better than its predecessor: looser, funnier, stranger, and vastly more subversive, a buddy road comedy that unexpectedly evolves into a celebration of female desire.
There's nothing at stake - their destination is a convention, not a contest, and it's not even clear they'll get to keep the singles that invariably rain down when they do their thing.
As I sat there laughing, I realized I wasn't only entertained. I was moved and exhilarated. Not since the days of peak Travolta and Dirty Dancing has a film so perfectly nailed something essential about movie lust
However discursive-and repetitive-the movie may be, it delivers the fantasy goods of formidable male bodies in motion, and ups the fantasy ante by making the men as sensitive, self-doubting and nurturing as they are virile.
Except for the admirable testosterone on display that represents hours in the gym instead of the acting class, the rest of Magic Mike XXL is seriously stupid.