Shadows on the Wall | Magic Mike's Last Dance

Magic Mike’s Last Dance

dir Steven Soderbergh
scr Reid Carolin
prd Nick Wechsler, Gregory Jacobs, Channing Tatum, Reid Carolin, Peter Kiernan
with Channing Tatum, Salma Hayek Pinault, Ayub Khan-Din, Jemelia George, Juliette Motamed, Vicki Pepperdine, Gavin Spokes, Christie-Leigh Emby, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, Adam Rodriguez, Kevin Nash
release US/UK 10.Feb.23
23/US Warners 1h52

See also:

Is it streaming?

An earthy tone brings this film's dramatic edges to life, allowing the cast to create intriguing characters. And Steven Soderbergh directs with a terrific handheld style that keeps everything nicely focussed. But it's difficult to escape the thought that screenwriter Reid Carolin seriously misses a trick here, name-checking female empowerment then throwing the idea away for more of the same skilfully choreographed and performed sensual male stripper action.

With his furniture business struggling, Mike (Tatum) takes a bartending job for Miami billionaire Maxandra (Hayek). When she learns of his dancer past, she whisks him away to London and offers him a job in the theatre she has swiped from her wealthy husband in the divorce. As Mike wins over her assistant Victor (Khan-Din) and surly teen daughter Zadie (George), he revamps the fusty period play on-stage into a male strip show with a cast of hot new dancers. This requires outthinking Maxandra's ex-husband as he uses his connections to shut them down.

While there is plenty of potential in the premise, the script barely makes anything of it, falling back on simplistic cliches like an undercooked romantic comedy arc. Set-pieces are sharply staged to get the pulses racing, with some seriously steamy dance performances from the bright young cast, including a few strong moments that let Tatum strut his stuff. But the film misses a huge trick by only giving lip-service to its feminist themes then quickly abandoning them for those same, resolutely straight, macho gyrations.

Some 11 years after the first film, Tatum is still absurdly muscled as the now non-dancing Mike, but it's nice to see a maturity in his movement and persona. He generates sparky chemistry with Hayek, who manages to make Maxandra likeable even when the script shamefully reduces her to a quivering, helpless wreck. Even as she's underserved by the writing and direction, Hayek makes Max's emerging confidence the film's only resonant undercurrent. Supporting cast members are effective in sketchy roles.

Running through the movie are snippets of essay-style voiceover from George's studious Zadie, unpicking gender themes in an attempt to layer the story with some serious commentary. If Soderbergh and Carolin had leaned more heavily into this, the whole show might have sprung to life in a relevant and bracingly provocative way. Indeed, they could have actually transformed that period play into something pointed and fresh, rather than merely throwing the idea aside for those same old sexy moves.

themes, language, sexuality 7.Feb.23

R E A D E R R E V I E W S

Still waiting for your comments ... don't be shy.