REVIEW: Magic Mike's Last Dance [2023]

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The perfect, magical experience for those who feel things when watching half-naked, strong-looking guys oozing with testosterone perform sexy dance routines.



Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures
PEx Reviewer: @benchboy

You may or may not agree that January took looonger than usual. Well of course there's the disdain that it ended the holidays and everyone got reminded again that life is not all fun. So finally, now that we're on the love month, I guess it might not be too much to claim we all deserve some self-love by indulging in some guilty pleasure.

For those who feel things when watching half-naked, strong looking guys oozing with testosterone perform sexy dance routines, director Steven Soderbergh may just have the perfect, magical experience to offer. Again.

Reportedly the last installment, Magic Mike's Last Dance, still headlined by Channing Tatum, will be in theaters this February 2023. Its trailer says, "the best things come in threes" — fans, I bet, surely won't mind seeing Tatum be Mike once more in a few years' time, for a really last dance, or a super last dance.

This last dance for now is somehow a good enough follow up to 2015's XXL. Good enough because the staple highlight dance sequences are comparable to those in the previous films, it's got interesting additions to the cast (Salma Hayek!) as well as to the visuals, but far from outstanding because to me I wasn't sure if the story rightfully ends Magic Mike's narrative.

It centers more on Maxandra Mendoza, Hayek's character, who convinces Magic Mike to go with her to London after just a night of his trademark lap dance and some time in bed after. There he finds himself helping her with her plan to redo a theater production that's up for staging at a venue that she just acquired after divorcing her ex-husband. She believes the theater's women audience, like her, also deserves to experience his magical talent and feel that they can have whatever they want, whenever.

Essentially, Magic Mike's Last Dance is about women empowerment as well as dealing with life's surprises. So mostly we see more of how the female protagonist conquered challenges in her way rather than know more about the titular character and about his passion for performing, considering that it's supposedly his final 'tease,' his last dance.

I also have issues with the writing — one is with regard to what really convinced Mike to go to London with Max: was he really just that idle or did all the attention from Max flatter him? Another relates to what made Max redo the theater production and advocate for women empowerment: what's the backstory to that? Is it just because of the divorce? Maybe it's all supposed to be 'magical,' you know, that we don't need to bother with the plot and why and how things happen but just focus on the occasionally funny dialogue and on the talented actors.

Anyway, that a male stripper can now be seen as a symbol of women empowerment can feel quite progressive, but of course, this pop culture representation still isn't fully reflective yet of reality. Sadly, not all women have the freedom to decide for themselves when they want to.

Love month or not, whether it's January or May, sex will always sell. That's quite a universal concept. So as Magic Mike ends, versions of him will definitely continue to abound both on traditional and social media. And no one will disagree that we deserve such guilty pleasures.

Rating: 8/10
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