Movie Reviews: While it has the abs, the magic is missing from 'Magic Mike's Last Dance'

This week, pop culture critic Richard Crouse reviews new movies: 'Magic Mike's Last Dance,' 'Your Place or Mine,' 'Somebody I Used to Know' and 'Seriously Red'.

It’s pretty clear that the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns left people feeling numb and slightly disconnected. To remedy this, “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” character Maxandra Mendoza (Salma Hayek Pinault) has a plan for a show unlike anything anyone has ever seen. “We’re going to wake up [the audience] with a wave of passion they’ve never felt before,” she purrs. Trouble is, I’ve seen the movie, and I’m still waiting for the wave of passion.

When we first meet wealthy socialite Maxandra she is the soon-to-be-divorced trophy wife to billionaire philanderer Roger Rattigan (Alan Cox). When she meets Mike Lane (Channing Tatum), a former superstar male dancer, now fallen on hard times, she is smitten. Broke and saddled with a failing furniture business, Mike is now bartending in Florida, working for tips.

When Maxandra offers $6000 for a striptease, the resulting acrobatic lap dance changes both their lives. “You gave me this magical moment,” she says, “that made me remember who I really was.”

Seeking to reclaim agency after her husband’s bad behaviour, Maxandra hires Mike to move to London and take over the Rattigan, the old West End theatre where she worked as an actress eighteen years before.

“I want every woman that walks into this theatre to feel that a woman can have whatever she wants, whenever she wants,” says Maxandra.

The other movies in the “Magic Mike” franchise were a mix of swivelling hips and social commentary. They essayed the Florida’s real estate bust, the downturned economy, temptation and decadence. Those themes gave the movies some depth, a reason to engage the brain before the clothes came off.