My cousin Joseph and I screened Magic Mike’s Last Dance in January and there have been two dance numbers living in my head rent-free for a couple of weeks now. Once you watch it you’ll know exactly which dances I’m talking about.
But first you’ll have to get over how unfair it is that it has been 11 years since the first Magic Mike and Channing Tatum barely looks like he’s aged at all. It’s eye-searingly obvious that Tatum trained hard for this movie. Hard. And pairing him with Selma Hayek Pinault was just demanding your face melt from the abundance of sexiness on the screen.
Hayek Pinault was honestly fascinating to watch as the wealthy socialite Maxandra Mendoza, who propositions Tatum’s Mike Lane after she learns what he used to do before he was hired to bartend her fundraiser. But a lot of the fascination came mainly from trying to follow the storyline and her manic take on the character. The movie opens with her in a rather despondent state. Then Mike dances for her and apparently that’s all the magic she needed.
(I mean, to be fair, Tatum’s dancing is pretty magical.)
So magical she whisks him off to London to create a show in a theater she owns. Tatum proceeds to spend the rest of the movie looking almost as lost as the audience. There’s some awkward Pretty Woman-esque estrangement and forced drama. There was one scene where Maxandra and Mike were arguing and in our post-movie dissection my cousin and I decided that it felt like Stephen Soderbergh’s only direction for the scene was most likely, “Just fight about something. It doesn’t have to make sense.” We also agreed that whatever the script called for, Selma Hayek acted the shit out of every line.
There was a female empowerment message threaded throughout the storyline, as convoluted as it was, and while the attempt shouldn’t go unnoticed, people are not going to a Magic Mike movie for social commentary.
Magic Mike’s Last Dance is the perfect movie for a fun night out with friends who appreciate dance. No, seriously. The dancing in this movie comes in a variety of styles, but of course there is a specific style that is expected, and this movie delivers it in grand fashion.
If you’ve watched Magic Mike and Magic Mike XXL and enjoyed them, then you will enjoy Magic Mike’s Last Dance. I have not had the pleasure of watching a live Magic Mike show but I have seen enough teasers posted on TikTok that I know the finale is an excellent advertisement to watch a live show. Especially if the live shows incorporate the water element that showcases Channing Tatum’s ability to completely own the stage. But luckily you don’t have to travel to London, or even Vegas or wait for the tour to hit your city. Just watch this movie.
