Daily Times

The first Magic Mike movie explored the grind (in all senses) of life as a male stripper; the second was a shallow but well-oiled road movie. Producer-star Channing Tatum has described this third and presumably final instalment as “a reverse-role Pretty Woman story that ends up with a lot of dancing in it.” Sadly, it’s never as entertaining as that synopsis makes it sound. The film begins with Tatum’s retired stripper “Magic” Mike Lane tending bar in Miami, where he’s spotted by Max Mendoza (Salma Hayek Pinault), a glamorous soon-to-be-divorcee with money to burn. After paying Mike $6,000 for the mother of all lap dances – these scenes are genuinely electric – she plays Richard Gere to his Julia Roberts. Impressed by the way he can “move like water”, Max whisks Mike to London to reinvent the creaky old period drama playing in her husband’s West End theatre. She wants it to be sexier and more “empowering” for women, which means we’re guaranteed to hear Ginuwine’s ‘Pony’ before the credits roll.