SlyGuy21 The first "Magic Mike" was a well disguised drama involving male strippers, "Magic Mike XXL" is just a straight-forward comedy about male strippers. Now the question is, "Is that a bad thing?". I'd say no. I didn't like it as much as the first one, but for a comedy sequel I'd say it's done pretty well. A lot of the cast returns, the story's more simplistic, and it's all about having a good time. It's not a soulless sequel only made to get money like "The Force Awakens" or something along those lines, it knows what it wants to be and it goes for it. That being said, there were some things I didn't like about the movie.One, Amber Heard, I know Cody Horn wasn't in the movie because reasons, but Heard's whole character just seems shoehorned into the movie. She's snarky, forgettable, and really only serves as a love interest for Channing Tatum. The funny thing is though, they don't get together at the end of the film, so it's like her being in this movie is completely pointless. Another thing I didn't like was Andie MacDowell (Nancy) and her group of like five friends. The group I've dubbed "Nancy & Co." also serve no purpose to the movie. The only reason they're in the movie is because the guys need a car, which could have been handled in like a third of the time. But instead, there's this really random stop to the movies momentum, as Nancy & Co. start discussing how they're unsatisfied with their lives/husbands. I'm sorry, did this just turn into an episode of "Desperate Housewives"? I guess the only real reason Nancy's in the movie is so she can have sex with Richie who's biggest problem is that no woman wants to have sex with him because his penis is "too big". Oh the humanity! If the biggest problem in your whole life is that your penis is "too big" I'd say you're doin' alright.If you want a movie that cleverly mixes comedy with drama, watch the first one. If you want a straight-forward comedy, watch this one. The movie's not bad, I had fun with it, but I'd rather watch the first one over this any day.

kosmasp You could fault the first Magic Mike for many things. But you couldn't say that it didn't have a story. Didn't matter if you liked it or not or if you didn't want to either see Dudes stripping or female nudity (the latter being said by a female friend of mine who minded that being on "display"), it did have something to tell. Now why do I say that? Because this movie does not have anything to say at all.Apart from men stripping (whether they have their shirts on or off shouldn't matter, it's not always about the pecs and flesh, but about what they do with their bodies) - and there is enough suggestions as to what they'd like to do. While that may seem tame to some (see some other reviews), it does seem risqué to some others (again reviews checking). But it does not hide the fact, that this rode trip is boring. Jada Pinkett Smith was surprisingly not nominated for an Oscar - even more surprisingly it wasn't the reason she boycotted the Oscars (I am kidding but feel free to like or dislike the joke).While the movie knows it doesn't have any plot it also does not have enough jokes to keep it up ... Yes that also intended

AnonymousMovieCritic This film was so lame, badly written and just plain awful, I'm embarrassed for the poor actors. It's just sad to see such fine actors like Tatum and Manganiello reduced to having to take roles like this.Now you could probably let the bad "story" and dialogue slide if you got to see a lot of eye candy, but no. The film is supposed to be about hot male strippers---but we rarely see any of them naked (well, in a thong, close enough)! And when we do, the lighting is so dingy, the audience would have to wear night vision goggles to make out anything. The director also miscast a huge, ugly oaf as one of the strippers. Unbelievable. We want to see prime filet naked, not Shrek! What we do see a lot of---instead of hot naked guys---are the guys fully clothed blabbering about B.S.NOTE to future directors of male stripper movies: we want to see the hot actors naked. A. Lot. In good lighting. Thank you.

Ole Sandbaek Joergensen If you have seen the first, you have to see what they do in the sequel, it is not the same thing, we are not in a strip club, this is kind of a road movie fusions with a dance contest movie, in this case a stripper convention of sorts :)The first film was better, this is missing some of the people from the first film, kind of like we couldn't get people on board so we make another kind of movie. This still have it's moments, but we are missing something, it has the strippers, it has a lot of funny scenes, most of the strange characters are back and new ones are added, but it doesn't quite get up there with the first one (even though that didn't get a high score either).Again as with the first one, see it for the dancing parts, see it for the romantic comedy it is, have fun and don't expect too much other then being entertained.