Magic Mike 3 (2023)
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Magic Mike 3 Movie Review
Magic Mike 3 is a 2023 comedy drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Channing Tatum and Selma Hayek. It’s an okay conclusion to this middling franchise.
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“I don’t fuck with vegetables“
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Mike takes to the stage again, following a business deal that went bust, leaving him broke and taking bartender gigs in Florida. Mike heads to London with a wealthy socialite who lures him with an offer he can’t refuse. Taking the action to the stage in this third entry was an odd choice that didn’t quite work. I realize what Soderbergh was trying to do here, but ultimately the movie would have been better off without this storyline.
There are many elements here that simply don’t work. The narration is one of them. It was too cringe-worthy for me and way too obvious. The same goes for the themes of the film as they deal with consent and pleasure on the most basic terms possible. For a film that is all about sexuality and empowerment, those themes needed to have been better handled.
What did work, however, was the central romance between Hayek’s and Tatum’s characters. The casting of Selma Hayek did wonders to make this more of a romance and she plays a fun character for sure. All of the scenes between the two are quite charming, though I personally would have turned the sex appeal a bit more. The steamy sex and stripping scenes were in short supply for a movie that is supposed to be about that.
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Tatum is also very likable in the role that he was born to play. The dance sequence in the rain is terrific and by far the movie’s most show-stopping moment. What I also appreciated in Magic Mike 3 is a healthy dose of humor injected throughout with the highlight being the very British and very bitchy British butler. The dance scenes are well choreographed and fun. The movie is quite engaging for the most part, but it really needed a better script and setting as the one that we got here was uninspired.
The third Magic Mike movie is the weakest of the trilogy, though it still is fun to watch. Taking the story to the stage was not a good choice and the script overall felt uninspired. The stripping and sex scenes were also in short supply for a franchise like this. The highlights here are the movie’s solid humor, the electric dance sequences and the central Tatum-Hayek romance that really worked.
My Rating – 3
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