Walking into AMC Palace 9 (229 E 3rd St.) with two girlfriends on a Thursday afternoon felt like a guilty enough pleasure. Walking immediately up to the bar for an excessive amount of booze felt indulgent but completely necessary. Taking our seats in the mostly empty theater and then reclining to a practically flat position was very comfortable, but also seemed pervy considering the circumstances. I didn’t really know if I wanted to be there at first, but as soon as Pony by Ginuwine began and the buzz from my margarita lunch started to kick in, I knew there was no turning back.
These mixed emotions were due to the fact that were seeing Magic Mike XXL. At the ripe old age of 35, I was once again the victim of peer pressure by girlfriends who wanted to do something ridiculous. But the thing is, you can’t actually drag the willing into a movie. Despite the fact that I had experienced the miserable storyline of the original Magic Mike, deep down there was still a gnawing male stripper curiosity. Not only had my friend promised a fun girls’ afternoon, Channing Tatum had promised some impressive grinding on the previews. I would have never been the one to make the plans, but I didn’t put up much of a real fight when the idea was suggested among the girls.
Fortunately, the storyline was basically non-existent and the movie mostly consisted of abs, dancing, abs, and stripping. In the end, I had no regrets about giving in, skipping out on work, and indulging in an absurd(ly hot) movie. As the three of us walked out of the theater into the harsh reality of daylight among people just leaving work, we decided that the only mistake we made was the movie time. After what we had just witnessed, we were all three geared up to go out dancing and drinking. We were sure a male entertainment venue in the DFW area existed where we would discover a Joe Manganiello at least, if not our very own Channing. Instead, we settled for a round of cocktails across the street at Bird Café, where we embarrassed our server with post-Magic Mike discussion
