Magic Mike XXL review – eye-catching if largely insubstantial

‘Scenic bump-and-grind action’: Magic Mike XXL. Photograph: Everett/Rex Shutterstock

If 2012’s Magic Mike was essentially a drama dressed in a posing pouch, then this sequel is more like a hen party. Having turned his back on the profession, Mike (Channing Tatum) is lured back to the oily throng for a last hurrah at a strippers’ convention in Myrtle Beach. En route, the Kings of Tampa boys (sans the original’s Matthew McConaughey and Alex Pettyfer) bicker and bond, stopping off in Jacksonville and Savannah for some scenic bump-and-grind action. With retired director Steven Soderbergh now nominally confined to cinematography, editing and production duties, former first assistant director Gregory Jacobs takes the reins with eye-catching if largely insubstantial results. Tatum’s autobiographical experiences still feed into Reid Carolin’s script, but the edge of the original has been lost, character playing second G-string to choreography and costume