Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Warner Bros
It’s no mystery why the Magic Mike franchise appeals to women, and it should have little problem enticing them back to theaters for the third and final installment in the series, Magic Mike’s Last Dance, this weekend. What many may not realize, however, is that director Steven Soderbergh and star Channing Tatum’s trilogy isn’t just a ribald sexual romp tailor-made to raise the temperatures of female moviegoers.
No, its allure is far greater than that. Because Magic Mike is—let it be heard from club to shining strip club!—also for the guys, the dudes, and the bros.
When it debuted in 2012, Soderbergh’s original Magic Mike appeared to be merely a raunchy dramedy— based in part on its headliner’s early days as an exotic dancer—about a group of male strippers taking it all off to the delight of hooting-and-hollering ladies in Tampa, Florida. As it turns out, it is about that, but it’s also considerably more: a funny and engaging story about a guy, Mike (Tatum), using his magnetic charisma and sultry moves to both indulge his hedonistic urges and to achieve his dream of becoming a custom furniture maker.