Channing Tatum really is magic.
He’s built like a cement mixer had a mishap — but when the music and spirit take him, he’s as lithe as a woodland sprite. You’ll see that in an early moment in Magic Mike XXL, the sequel to Steven Soderbergh’s wildly popular and surprisingly touching 2012 hit Magic Mike. The first film was surprising in its focus on economic angst. Magic Mike XXL is set in the real world, too, but delivers more of that original promise: You want the hottest male strippers, you got ’em. What’s most notable is just how upbeat and sex-positive this movie is. Some could look at unattainable sex objects and spin a film about social conventions, conformity codes, exploitation and plenty of other sociology terms. This movie will have none of that. Everyone is consenting, everyone is having a good time and everyone wants a little Magic.
