Considering the original βMagic Mikeβ was entertaining, youβd think it wouldnβt be too hard to make a sequel mildly so.
Add a few new dances, toss an interesting problem in his direction and count the money.
Unfortunately, thatβs not how βMagic Mikeβs Last Danceβ rolls.
Unable to catch a break from his dancing career, Mike (Channing Tatum) tends bar at exclusive parties and meets a socialite (Salma Hayek Pinault) who wants him to stage a show in London. Since she also wants other things β and throws a lot of money at him β he tries to recruit street dancers for what must be the dinkiest theater in town.
Rather than introduce the new team, director Steven Soderbergh lets them bump and grind in the shadows while Mike plays a stupid drama out front. Frankly, thereβs not enough there.
DVD REVIEW: 'Living' gives Bill Nighy an excellent showcase
DVD REVIEW: 'All Quiet on the Western Front' had potential to win Best Picture
DVD REVIEW: 'Babylon' looks great but doesn't put a gloss on Hollywood
A simple guy, Mike doesnβt think through his situation or consider what Pinaultβs Maxandra Mendoza is up to. When he has a Zoom call with the old strippers, you wish theyβd fly out and join him. Instead, this is a fairly concentrated story that needs an awful lot of hydration midway through.
To give the film a little βBridgertonβ class, Soderbergh employs a narrator who tries to make sense of the story. She offers her own take, then pulls back for those shirtless group numbers and water ballets.
While Pinault has the best shot at making something of the plot, she goes through the motions, plays the clichΓ©s and introduces her own βsurpriseβ before that all-important premiere takes place. (If it hadnβt been released so long ago we swear βShowgirlsβ must have been inspiration.)
In The Ratigan (as that very famous, oh-so-dinky club is known), a good 50 or 60 people watch as the new Magic Mike dancers show off their abs and try not to fall off a newly constructed stage. They writhe with the best of them, then let the master have his moment in what must be the biggest water-filled pothole on stage.
Nothing makes sense but Mikeβs future seems set for at least a couple of years.
Tatum, who still has the moves that made him a star, brings nothing new to the character. Listed as a producer, he doesnβt exert too much energy until the end. Then, the clothes come off, water floods the stage and the pas de deux unfolds. Itβs good, but it isnβt exactly the show thatβs going to take London by storm. Tatum mumbles so much he could have staged the second coming of Christ and we wouldnβt have gotten the picture.
The Journal's Top Stories for the week of March 26, 2023
