In one of the only good business decisions Warner Bros. has made in years, Magic Mike’s Last Dance marks Steven Soderbergh’s first theatrical release since Unsane. Can you believe they were going to send this ode to theater and the power of performance to HBO Max? The saga of Magic Mike comes to a close with some real Muppets Take Manhattan energy, as Mike takes the stage one last time to secure his future and find his place in the world. Like all late-era Soderbergh, the script is a little loosey-goosey with a second act that threatens to buckle under the pressure, but the titular last dance is worth the ups and downs.

Mike Lane (Channing Tatum, our last movie star) is down on his luck, working a catering gig after the pandemic swallowed his furniture business and left him broke. A wealthy socialite named Maxandra Mendoza (Salma Hayek Pinault) offers to pay him for a dance, and Magic Mike blows her mind. He awakens her imagination so vividly she offers him a secret job in London, where she lives. With nothing left to lose, Mike joins Max across the pond and finds himself in charge of creating the best damn stripper stage show the world has ever seen. The only things standing in his way are Max’s general lunacy, her grumpy butler Victor (Ayub Khan Din), and her sarcastic daughter Zadie (Jemlia George). Plus, there’s the threat of Max’s estranged husband shutting down the show before it can even premiere. No pressure, Mike!

Despite these obstacles, Last Dance never gets weighed down in the stress. Everyone is having a great time, especially Tatum, who relishes the chance to be a chiseled version of Gene Kelly. His first dance for Max is sensational, and the dancers Soderbergh found look great and barely speak. They know what they’re here for, and we salute them. The films that make up the Magic Mike trilogy are all so different -the original is about the recession, XXL is about having a road trip with the boys, and Last Dance is about how dancing for an audience is so awesome- but each is anchored by Tatum’s tantric performance. We are so lucky to have him. Soderbergh trusts him implicitly, never letting the filmmaking overpower the dance. But don’t worry, the man still makes some wild decisions – this is a director whose establishing shots of London consist entirely of crappy souvenirs. Lunatic!

Magic Mike’s Last Dance
2023
Dir. Steven Soderbergh
112 min

In theaters everywhere (including the Somerville Theatre) Friday 2/10