Top Line Thoughts: I’ll get right to it: this movie is bad. The whole time I was sitting in the theater watching it I was thinking that it was bad. However, that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. You don’t go see a “Magic Mike” movie for the plot. You go for the dancing, which is the only good part of the movie. The first film in the “Magic Mike” franchise managed to combine impressive dance moves with a compelling story, but by this film it seems like they realized the plot wasn’t what was bringing people in so why even try? An entertaining watch but not worth it by any means.

Spoiler Section: There are so many parts of this movie that did not work for me. I won’t get into all of them, but the most glaring are the romance and the setting. The love story between Channing Tatum and Salma Hayek is totally unbelievable and when he tells her he loves her at the end of the movie I almost said out loud “no you don’t…” I didn’t feel any actual chemistry between them and they spend the majority of the movie working in a professional capacity or just acting awkward and weird around each other instead of building romantic tension.

Placing this film in a theater in London feels like the totally wrong setting for this kind of thing. Florida, the setting of the first 2 films, just makes sense; it’s fun and free. London feels so uptight and proper. I guess maybe the contrast of the London theater and the male dancing is supposed to be the point but it just didn’t capture the fun of the earlier movies.

The only reason to watch this movie would be for the dancing. The best number in the film by far sees Channing Tatum and a professional ballerina dancing in the rain, in a pit of water, in a scene that feels like it’s from “Step Up”. This is the dance that I felt like most showcased the talent of the dancers but also of dance in general with what these two are able to do with their bodies physically and portray emotionally in this wordless scene. An incredible performance from insanely talented people. That being said, is it worth watching this whole movie just for this scene when you could probably just look it up on YouTube? No, definitely not. But it’s not the worst way to spend a night if you have nothing else to do.

2023 Count: 4 seasons, 13 movies