Director: Gregory Jacobs
Year Released: 2015
Rating: 1.0
"Magic" Mike (Channing Tatum), a few years after having walked away from being a "male entertainer," realizes he needs One Last Show, so he and some other dancers (including Joe Manganiello, Matt Bomer and Kevin Nash) go on a Redemptive Road Trip (so chic!) to Find Themselves and Go Out On Top. If the first Magic Mike was terrible, this is only mildly awful - I guess it's trying to "subvert" the traditional "women-subjected-to-the-male-gaze" approach (of men treating strippers-as-objects) ... except Tatum and company actually live for the attention and adoration and love having money thrown at them (it's not viewed as 'degrading' but rather as an accomplishment ... have fun with that Gender Studies people). The dances are well-shot and choreographed (Tatum's opening number, set to Ginuwine's "Pony," is sleek), but anyone finding anything "deep" (about race relations, about sexuality) in this is giving it too much credit: it's one big, dumb ox. The really important question at the end of the day: who gets to sweep up all those dollar bills?
