Warning: this article contains major spoilers for Magic Mike’s Last Dance (2023).
At the heart of Magic Mike’s Last Dance, the third and supposedly final installment in the Magic Mike franchise, is the unexpected romance that grows between Channing Tatum’s Mike Lane and Salma Hayek Pinault’s Maxandra Mendoza. After a night of intimacy with Mike early in the film helps reignite Maxandra’s passion for life, she offers him $60,000 to go to London with her for one month.
When he gets there, however, he’s surprised to discover that Maxandra intends to have him choreograph and put on a new show in the stuffy old London theater that she’s recently won as a result of her divorce from her husband.
Magic Mike’s last romance?
For most of its runtime, Magic Mike’s Last Dance follows Mike and Maxandra as they struggle to put together a show that the latter hopes will help the women who see it believe that they don’t have to make as many compromises as they think. Over the course of the film, Mike and Maxandra not only clash with the misogynistic British institutions that want to prevent them from putting on their show, but also with each other. Despite their mutual attraction, Mike’s inability to be truly vulnerable and Maxandra’s lack of belief in his feelings for her prevent them from fully committing to one another.
That all changes in the final act of Magic Mike’s Last Dance. When Maxandra is told that putting on her show will put her own wealth in jeopardy, she decides to cancel the production. Mike, however, refuses to let her walk away from him and their project. A rain-soaked argument with Maxandra gives him an idea for their show’s grand finale, and with the help of her butler, Victor (Ayub Khan Din), and daughter, Zadie (Jemelia George), Mike is able to orchestrate a one-night performance of their “play” before it gets permanently shut down.
When Maxandra arrives at the theater a few nights later, she’s surprised to discover that she and Mike’s show has exactly the intended effect on its audience members as she’d hoped. In case that wasn’t enough, she’s forced to put aside her romantic insecurities once and for all after she sees Mike perform the show’s grand finale.
Accompanied by a talented ballerina (played by real-life dancer Kylie Shea), Mike turns his and Maxandra’s argument in the rain into a gobsmacking dance number. The performance is not only awe-inspiring to watch, but it’s also a plea to Maxandra to not to give up on her and Mike’s romance.
How does Magic Mike’s Last Dance end?
Moments later, as audience members rapturously applaud their show, Mike and Maxandra come face-to-face again. The two finally affirm their love for each other and walk hand in hand into the celebrating crowd. The film cuts to black moments later, just after Zadie muses one last time about the power dance has to bring people together.
While her decision to commit to Mike and their show results in her losing out on her share of her husband’s wealth, the finale of Magic Mike’s Last Dance suggests that Maxandra and Mike won’t have a hard time finding an audience for their projects. The film, in other words, ends with Maxandra’s wish for her show coming true. In the end, she doesn’t have to choose between Mike, her daughter, and her own financial security. Instead, she gets everything she wants — as she should.
Magic Mike’s Last Dance is now playing in theaters.
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