Pandering in thongs to throngs

IF you thought the world of male exotic dancing was inhabited by ordinary Joes in hard hats and police uniforms with exhibitionist tendencies and big, um, dreams, eager simply to please throngs of desperate housewives, squealing co-eds and assorted admirers of the chiselled male form, you'd probably be right.

At least that's how these groups are depicted in Magic Mike XXL, a sequel to the similarly titled but sadly un-sized 2012 film which pulled back the veil on the male strip club scene in Florida and provided Channing Tatum with a platform to demonstrate exactly what he was up to before he became a movie star.

That earlier film, directed by Steven Soderbergh, was a surprise hit and led to XXL, which has a bigger budget and yes, plus-sized expectations.

This time around, Soderbergh passed the director's reins to longtime assistant director Gregory Jacobs while taking the director of photography role (under a pseudonym, Peter Andrews) for himself. Both films were written by Reid Carolin. The result is a bromance featuring mounds of exposed male flesh and a healthy dose of bump and grind. Having retired from stripping, Mike Lane (Tatum) is leading a quiet existence as the owner of a furniture-making business when his buddies, still in full-Monty mode, stop by on their way to a stripper convention. Faster than you can say "Village People", Mike packs up his power tool and joins Richie (Joe Manganiello), Tarzan (Kevin Nash), Tito (Adam Rodriguez) and Ken (Matt Bomer) on one last road trip, with ample bro-banter and predictable pit stops along the way.

First up is impromptu participation at a club's drag queen night, aptly described by one character as "swamp country debauchery". It's not long before Mike implores the boys to forego the traditional trappings of male strippers (the hats and the uniforms) in an effort to jazz up their routines and get in touch with their true selves.

But any attempt among them at serious philosophising doesn't go beyond quoting Oprah: "If someone shows you themselves, believe them." Naturally, each of our male entertainers has a personal story and an outside interest (yogurt, painting, singing) that they can tap into during the film's hip-thrusting finale (when all will be revealed, so to speak) but the main thing with these guys is to have fun, keep the customers satisfied and encourage a "tsunami of dollar bills" to be thrown in their direction.

Matthew McConaughey, who played a deliciously sleazy manager in the original film, is missing in the sequel but the slack is taken up by the likes of Jada Pinkett Smith as Rome, a former flame of Mike's and owner of a ridiculously well-stocked club, Donald Glover as Andre, a rapper/singer there and Andie MacDowell as Nancy, a tai-tai with a rich Southern drawl, a ready twinkle in her eye and a convertible Rolls-Royce to loan out. Meanwhile, Mike's love interest comes in the shape of Zoe (Amber Heard), a budding photographer recovering from a bad relationship. Magic Mike XXL doesn't aspire to do anything more than entertain viewers with a semi-erotic version of show and tell and in that it has succeeded - if the upbeat mood and frequent gasps of approval from the predominantly female audience at a recent screening is anything to go by.

Getting in touch with our inner selves may be a worthy endeavour but when push really comes to shove, men in thongs do the trick every time.

Rating: C+