Mark Reviews Movies: MAGIC MIKE'S LAST DANCE

Magic Mike's Last Dance, Warner Bros. Pictures

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Review by Mark Dujsik | February 9, 2023

There wasn't much of a reason for a sequel to 2012's Magic Mike, and now, we have two of them. Actually, there is a decent reason for at least one sequel, and it's a rationale that Magic Mike XXL embraced: to simply put on a show. Magic Mike's Last Dance takes that idea quite literally, sending the once-again down-on-his-luck and once-again former stripper to London to direct a stage show.

One has to admire that kind of to-the-point setup from returning screenwriter Reid Carolin, who probably took this material about as far as it could go the first time around but has now devised two decent-enough excuses to check back in on "Magic" Mike Lane (Channing Tatum). The setup here is clever enough, too, and overtly promises an entertaining show as soon as Mike realizes why he's in London in the first place. Like the first film, this one tries to be about something more significant than a series of impressive dances and shirt-ripping stripteases, but in the attempt to find some deeper meaning within a premise that has run its course, this sequel forgets to a have a good time.

A later-to-be-revealed narrator lets us know where Mike is at the current moment. Like so many, he lost his furniture business during the recent pandemic, and without a job and with a feeling of obligation to pay back the friends who invested in his business, Mike finds himself in Miami, bartending at various parties and functions. He's officially finished with dancing. When the sad and lonely Maxandra (Salma Hayek Pinault), a wealthy woman hosting a fundraiser at her Miami mansion, offers to pay Mike for a dance to take her mind off her troubles, though, he's more than happy to oblige.

At this point, it's probably worth mentioning that Steven Soderbergh, who directed the first film but stepped away from the first sequel, returns to the helm here—for reasons that aren't apparent from the material but are appreciated when it comes to scenes like the one that unfolds between Mike and Maxandra. There's an undeniable sensuality to the scene, not only because the two find themselves mostly dressed but in assorted positions that suggest they'd be having a bit more fun with even fewer clothes on, but also because the choreography and Soderbergh's camera ensure that it's an extended moment of mutual intimacy.

The whole plot revolves around the notion that these two, who end up in bed together by the end of night, have formed a connection that goes beyond dancing or sex or whatever personal problems they might be having at the moment. It's silly, yes, that all of this arises from a lengthy display of rhythmic and athletic prowess, but Soderbergh and the two actors sell it, nonetheless.

After that, Maxandra offers Mike $60,000—not for more sex, but to perform a job for her. As it turns out, she's in the middle of an emotionally draining divorce, and she wants Mike to direct and choreograph an upscale strip show at her soon-to-be ex's family theater. It's not revenge, she asserts. Well, it's not just revenge, since it's also a chance for her to be creative and to give this man, who gave her a new sense of empowerment, a chance to be creative, too.

In theory, the rest of the story is about Mike and Maxandra auditioning dancers, figuring out how to use the ones they hire, coming up with a story that offers a woman's perspective on the deeper allure of watching men take off their clothes to music, and doing it all without making fools of themselves or otherwise ruining their reputations. The promise is one purely of entertainment, and unfortunately, both Carolin and Soderbergh seem to forget that almost as soon as the movie puts the idea in front of us.

The audition process allows the movie's dancers to show off their skills for the first and, for most of them, the last time until the extended climax, when we get to see what a poor excuse for theater a high-end strip show actually makes. The dancers, who are mostly anonymous in terms of names and personalities in the movie, and preparation for the show itself take a backseat to various conflicts—from a buildup toward some argument between Mike and Maxandra, to the ex-husband's attempts to sabotage the production, to some bureaucratic complications. Maxandra, of course, has a precocious daughter (played by Jemelia George), whose narration tries to provide some philosophical and sociological context to the concept of dancing, and a grumpy manservant (played by Ayub Khan Din), and both of them seem to take up as much of the narrative as the rehearsals.

Despite the assertions of the characters, there's little sense of creativity here and even less sense of camaraderie between the performers (The first two movies focused on that so well that it definitely is missed here). Magic Mike's Last Dance possesses a pretty simple and straightforward excuse for a premise, but ultimately, it's all a tease for a movie that never devises a legitimate reason to continue this story.

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