Sequel features 'Mike' minus magic, McConaughey

"Let's see if there's any magic left in that Mike!" strip club madam Jada Pinkett Smith shouts during "Magic Mike XXL."

Nope. The magic, plus original stars Matthew McConaughey and Alex Pettyfer, have taken a hike on Mike.

The 2012 original movie, about male strippers struggling to tread financial waters in a drowning economy, became a bolt of dramatic lightning directed, photographed and edited by Steven Soderbergh (under aliases).

"Magic Mike" turned out to be much more than eye candy. It surprised us with characters of considerable depth and empathy, especially Mike Lane, played by Channing Tatum in a story based on his career as a male entertainer.

"Magic Mike XXL," directed by Soderbergh collaborator Gregory Jacobs, brings back the boys with the bulging biceps, but this time out, they're stuck in a talky bromantic road movie that takes them forever to ramble from Tampa to a big strippers convention in Myrtle Beach.

Mike (reprised by Tatum) struggles to get by on his furniture business when his posse persuades him to join them in one last ride before they're too old. Mike throws in with Richie (Joe Manganiello), cute Ken (Matt Bomer), Tarzan (Kevin Nash), Tobias (Gabriel Iglesias) and Tito (Adam Rodriguez).

They plan to perform their old routines at the convention. But Mike urges his buds to tap into their "inner drag queens" and perform something new and fresh.

It takes 96 minutes or so before "XXL" gets to the good stuff: the amazingly versatile Elizabeth Banks as Paris, the hottie emcee of the stripper convention where Mike and company pull out (off?) the R-rated stops to screeches of female approval.

Most of the "XXL" women serve as attractive set decorations, save for a sassy photographer (Amber Heard) who catches Mike with his pants down, and southern belle Nancy (Andie MacDowell), who cheerleads her social clutch of frustrated wives giddy with the prospect of enjoying some six-packs along with their wine.

Nancy makes it clear she's hooking up with Richie, thereby squandering a primo inside film joke: screenwriter (and Lake Forest native) Reid Carolin should have hooked Tarzan up with MacDowell, who played Jane in her first film, "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes."

Whatever "XXL" lacks in wit and drama, it makes up for with rippling pecs and lovable Mike, who probably sums up the movie best: "This was fun ... whatever it was."