By Jake Wilson
Magic Mike’s Last Dance ★★★
(M) 112 minutes
Most of us, probably, could learn something from the chill attitude of Mike Lane (Channing Tatum) – the hero of one of Hollywood’s most unlikely success stories, fictionally and behind the scenes.
Admittedly, he hasn’t always looked like a winner. Steven Soderbergh’s original 2012 Magic Mike was an ironic character study as much as anything else – the core joke being the contrast between Mike’s sexual authority, especially in dance mode, and his broader status as an exploited member of the service industry.
Salma Hayek plays Maxandra Mendoza, who lures Channing Tatum’s Mike to London to direct a stripping extravaganza.
Outwardly, things haven’t much shifted at the start of Magic Mike’s Last Dance, advertised as the finale to the trilogy, with Soderbergh returning as director (having taken a back seat for Magic Mike XXL, the 2015 middle chapter).
Long out of the stripping game, Mike is now a bartender in Miami, his cherished furniture business having gone bust in the pandemic. But through it all he seems to have matured, his former hapless quality replaced by an almost Zen acceptance of whatever comes.
Mike has his pride, he’s smarter than he looks, and his people skills include a well-honed ability to set boundaries. But hey, if a rich lady at a charity benefit offers him $6000 for a lap dance, he’s not going to say no. And then, if afterwards, they fall into bed together, these things happen.
Channing Tatum as Mike Lane and Salma Hayek as Maxandra Mendoza.Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures
And then if Maxander Mendoza (Salma Hayek), the rich lady in question, wants to fly him to London and set him up as the director of a stripping extravaganza she’s staging to get back at her ex-husband – well, it’s not like he had that much else going on.
At this point, Magic Mike’s Last Dance reveals itself as a traditional backstage musical, drawing experience and personnel from the real-life theatrical spectacular Magic Mike Live (that opened in the West End in 2018, with Tatum as director).
Presumably, what Soderbergh thinks he’s doing is delivering populist entertainment while telegraphing his self-awareness, in the spirit of Mike’s dedication to delivering the goods.
Compared to his hero, however, he doesn’t entirely succeed in going with the flow. For a movie supposedly about passion, Magic Mike’s Last Dance remains curiously detached – diverting much of its energy into cartoonish jokes inspired by the UK setting, in the manner of Soderbergh’s directing mentor Richard Lester (Help!).
This is easily the tamest entry in the series, largely devoid of sleaze and nudity. Even as a new crop of dancers work to bring the heat, the camera often seems to be contemplating them from a blasé distance (it doesn’t help that they’re barely characterised otherwise, unlike Mike’s rambunctious old crew).
But why dwell on the flaws? There are strengths, too, especially when the focus is on the mixed feelings driving Hayek’s Max – a flighty, even manic character, but not a figure of fun.
As for Mike, he may not be the sharpest tool in the shed or the most versatile. But there’s something to be said for a franchise hero who remains thoroughly human-sized, rippling abs and all.
Magic Mike’s Last Dance is in cinemas from February 9.
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