NEW YORK (OSV News) – With “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” (Warner Bros.), star Channing Tatum serves up a third helping of beefcake in the male stripper-themed series that began in 2012. While this latest outing focuses more on tripping the light fantastic than undressing, sleazy behavior and wayward underlying values make it unacceptable nonetheless.
Tatum reprises his role as the clothes peeler of the title. While bartending in Miami, he meets rich, lonely charity patron Maxandra “Max” Mendoza (Salma Hayek Pinault) who requests that he indulge in his other avocation by giving her a private performance.
Mike’s gyrations culminate in a roll in the hay, after which he and Max jet off to her home base of London. There, the two go into Judy and Mickey mode and decide to put on a show. Conveniently, Max has come into possession of a theater in the British capital as part of the preliminary settlement in her pending divorce from her possessive husband.
The spectacle the duo crafts is, in fact, fairly restrained in that no more male anatomy is put on display than viewers might see at the nearest beach. But the choreography features numerous simulated sex acts and the basic message of the one-time-only production is that women want to be just as promiscuous as men.
While Mike and Max pursue romance, returning screenwriter Reid Carolin’s script veers between taking its inherently silly subject matter far too seriously and winking at the audience. By contrast, as directed by Steven Soderbergh, who helmed the first installment in the franchise, Carolin’s narrative unswervingly – if implicitly – glorifies commitment-free hook-ups.
The film contains a benign view of casual sex, an offscreen nonmarital encounter, partial nudity, a couple of instances each of profanity and milder swearing as well as pervasive rough and much crude language. The OSV News classification is O — morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
John Mulderig is media reviewer for OSV News. Follow him on Twitter @JohnMulderig1.
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