Lamar Reviews - "Magic Mike’s Last Dance" (Airdate 2/17/2023)

Lamar Reviews - "Magic Mike’s Last Dance" (Airdate 2.17.2023)

If you are asking, “Is there a need for a third Magic Mike movie?”, since the other two made $285 million dollars and are fairly cheap to make, the studio would say yes. I’m also sure that the millions of ladies that bought tickets to see Channing Tatum and company dance and strip, wouldn’t complain, until they watch the movie and Channing only dances briefly. But luckily there are bunch of unknown great dancers and the choreography is fantastic. I only wish I could say the same for the plot.

The movie opens explaining that Mike had stopped stripping and opened a furniture store that was doing really well until covid. Now he is bartending to make a living. The job he is on is a big fund raiser put on by an extremely rich Maxandra Mendoza, played by Salma Hayek. One of her employees recognizes Mike from a Strip-O-Gram he delivered to her at her bachelorette party, and mentions it to Maxandra. And, just like any wealthy philanthropist, that has a hard day mingling with donors, sipping champagne, and is stressed out over an impending divorce, she summons the stripper/bartender to come give her a dance. Needless to say, she gets more of a dance than she bargained for. And let me just say, it truly was awesome. So awesome in fact, she offers him a job as a director of his own dance show in London. The theme is pro woman, as in, women should be able to get exactly what they want. They immediately take the private jet and go. This may be the most jacked up, unbelievable, most forced, meet-cute in movie history. I watch a lot of Dateline, and if this was an episode, Josh Mankiewicz, would be interviewing Channing about how Maxandra’s fortune wound up in his bank account, her severed head in a trash can at a rest area, and two drops of her blood on his shoe. But, we are not here for the plot, we are here to see men who haven’t had a carb or a glass of water in 3 weeks, take off their clothes and do impossible gyrations.

The story revolves around Max, as she likes to be called, getting revenge on her husband by putting on this show in a famous London theater that his family owns. This is all background to the true question, “Do Max and Mike love each other, or is this just business:”

The movie is 1 hour and 52 minutes, Rated R for sexual material and language. Sadly, ladies, there is no nudity. The dancers only take their shirts off, although Channing does go down to boxer briefs.

I thought the story was lame, but the dancing was great, and the last dance is done in the rain, it’s really cool. I asked what Carla she thought about the story, and the reply I got was, “What story?” I pointed out that we had no idea of who the stage full of shirtless gyrating dancers that we were watching were, I got, “Don’t care, shut up.”

So, if plot is not important, and you are ok with not seeing Channing Tatum’s bare butt, and most of the dancing being done by a variety of shirtless, hot, muscular, men, then this is the movie for you. For me, a decapitated head, and Josh Mankiewicz would have really helped.

My Score: 3 Buds

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