The Magic Mike Movies Ranked
I don’t know if there is a trilogy comprised of three movies as disparate as those under the Magic Mike name. The saga of Steven Soderbergh and Co’s “lonely stripper,” based initially on the real-life experiences of Mike Lane’s portrayer Channing Tatum, has taken some wide tonal and stylistic turns, to put it mildly. Across the three films, released over the nearly 11 years from 2012 to 2023, this “franchise” has traded on its sexy salability to tell a personal tale of show biz corruption, provide pure buddy comedy escapism, and shift the trashy Florida “male entertainer” action to the fine theatrical arts of London…all while shedding big chunks of the cast with each subsequent release and all to mixed results.
#3 — MAGIC MIKE’S LAST DANCE (2023)
D: Steven Soderbergh
MAGIC MIKE’S LAST DANCE, ostensibly the conclusion of the Mike Lane story (until perhaps there’s another totally different movie in a decade or something), is the latest movie in the series, the impetus for this piece, and a disappointment. After the change in tone from MAGIC MIKE to XXL, I had a feeling Soderbergh, returning to the director’s chair after “only” shooting and editing #2, would change up the formula once again. But in making LAST DANCE a slower, quieter movie, yet also one with awkward emotional outbursts from Salma Hayek’s character, yet also one with a not-so-revolutionary obligation to meant-to-be-revolutionary theatrical stripping, Soderbergh made one of the most confused movies of his entire career. There are kernels of interesting ideas, but something(s) seems to have fallen out in the edit, with many elements lacking enrichment or finesse. LAST DANCE also carries little continuity from XXL, as that movie did from MAGIC MIKE; our only exposure to Mike’s friends and fellow male entertainers is through an unimaginably blurry Zoom call. Otherwise, we are shuttled over to London with Mike, where he moves about in a stupor, in service to Hayek’s eccentric rich divorcee. There is a thread of what was explored in XXL, the idea of female pleasure and gratification, but it’s done clumsily. But because its Soderbergh, much of LAST DANCE is at least often brilliant to look at; not many get the digital aesthetic like him. But of course, the biggest sin for many Magic Mike “purists” (i.e. the people who want to see hot men dance nearly naked) is that there is an odd shortage of dance numbers. The opening and closing sequences, however, are indeed brilliantly choreographed. All told, MAGIC MIKE’S LAST DANCE is perhaps a fitting end to the shifty trilogy, embracing a whole new vibe and becoming even more slipshod in the process.
#2 — MAGIC MIKE XXL (2015)
D: Gregory Jacobs
The philosophy behind MAGIC MIKE XXL seemed to be to take what people thought MAGIC MIKE was and make it a reality. As a result, frequent Soderbergh assistant director Gregory Jacobs presided over a movie that really leaned into the first movie’s campiest elements. Strangely enough, Soderbergh was still the cinematographer and editor of the movie, but his thoughtfulness in those roles for his own movies doesn’t really come through in this goofy buddy road comedy. Unlike LAST DANCE and MAGIC MIKE, XXL isn’t really burdened with big ideas, although I do think its incredible series of closing numbers do strike at themes the former was trying to accentuate. And XXL does it better, even as it operates as a much more conventional movie than the movies it’s sandwiched between. But even taking it at its very different face value, after the expectations set by MAGIC MIKE, this sequel doesn’t often hit the comedic highs it’s aiming for with its awkward timing. As has apparently become custom, XXL also writes away three of the key characters of the first movie, leaving Mike to strike out with his former coworkers for one last (OK, second-to-last) gig. Many baffling creative decisions are made along the way, but the commitment to showing off Tatum’s body, along with those of his costars, especially the inimitable Joe Manganiello, certainly makes XXL more of a crowd pleaser. For my money, I can’t say that it’s a good movie. And yet something about XXL is charming, especially as a tonic of mindless entertainment.
#1 — MAGIC MIKE (2012)
D: Steven Soderbergh
I remember being surprised by the nature of MAGIC MIKE when I first saw it. By that time, XXL must have been out, and maybe the “Magic Mike Live” stage show that began in Las Vegas in 2017 was on the horizon or newly running. So the tenor surrounding the name was often admiration from, well, anyone attracted to hot, shirtless, and often pants-less men. But I found that the sire of all this camp was a more thoughtful film than I had expected. But MAGIC MIKE doesn’t only offer a dramatically personal brush with the seediness of a Florida male stripper show. It does in fact carry the goofy spirit of wild abandon brought to bear on men’s bodies, as associated with its sequel, albeit in more moderation. And its banter between the guys, especially with Matthew McConaughey in the picture unlike in the following films, is the most clever and realistic in the series. People joke about MAGIC MIKE’s orange filter, but I think it appropriately seeps something unique into the movie’s trashy settings and open beaches. And it’s just one element of the whole thing’s great cinematography. MAGIC MIKE isn’t a great movie, and certainly not at the top of Soderbergh’s whole output, but its balance of the over-the-top spectacle of an outsider sector of show business and the emotionally compelling human relationships behind it certainly make it the richest and best of the series it spawned.
