My wife and I saw this on opening night at the movie theater. Surprisingly, it was a decent crowd with mainly couples. The beginning was o'k , the ending was pretty good but the middle was absolutely borrrring!!!! It will almost put you to sleep. There was no chemistry , no character development and not much going on. Unlike the first two , Mike had rapport with his dance partners , this one had nothing. The dance partners were too old to be a stripping act so that would not work, but they could have come up with something better. This will probably be the end of this one, as I'm assuming this is going to get a thumbs down - all the way around.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

Magic Mike Last Dance is a pretty fair comedy drama film which may lack the fun the other films had but does go in a new direction that will probably divide the fans. I overall enjoyed the new direction. It may be playing it safe with less of male strippers. And more of Channing Tatum and Salma Hayek forming a relationship. And Tatum trying to help her form a dance performance. The plot is good with its new direction. The cast is good. Salma Hayek is a fun new addition to the series. The script's narrative structure is cheesy. The film may also lack the fun the other films had. The dance sequences are creative and entertaining.

It's been almost eight years since the release of the Magic Mike XXL, which, in my opinion, gave the story the closure it needed. I enjoyed the first two films, minus the cheesy stripper dancing, because they gave you a feel for the lives these men lead as opposed to solely focusing on the stripping aspect. It was surprisingly engrossing. With Magic Mike's Last Dance, it does almost the opposite by focusing solely on Channing Tatum and Salma Hayek's phony romantic plot device as an excuse for Magic Mike to put on one final show, setting the film into a complete fantasy.

Now, don't get me wrong. I usually love Salma Hayek, but her acting in this film was terrible. I did not believe her character for one second and some of the lines she delivers are just awkward to watch. I was not buying her and Channing Tatum's romance at all. It was almost painful at times. Everybody else does a serviceable job, but when you have leads that have zero chemistry with each other, it can be a deal breaker.

Unfortunately, because of the chosen focal point for the story, the dancing also suffers. We get a decent enough show at the end, but there is only one other dancing scene in the film. The other bits of dancing are just that. Bits because they show them training to put together the show. Not one full dance number from that first dance at the beginning, all the way to the end.

Speaking of dancing, none of the dancers have any sort of personality or even play any role in the film other than to just be there as dancers. Thus bringing us back to the issue of the central plot focusing on the wrong thing. They didn't even bring back any of the original dancers to dance or even play any part in the movie besides a cameo group video chat for 2 minutes. The film even builds it up with Mike constantly dodging their phone calls but they do nothing with it and that was probably my biggest disappointment.

The only positive thing I can say about it is the direction is well executed. The camera angles, the effects and the editing work in the films favor, but that is not enough to save it from being a bad film.

Overall, I couldn't recommend it. The first two are diamonds in the rough, and this one is a rock that sinks straight down to the bottom of the ocean. If it wasn't for Steven Soderbergh's tight direction, I would rate it lower.

1.5 pumps out of 5.