Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Magic Mike’s Last Dance review says it delivers where it counts. If it’s a bit shallow, the slinky, sexy fun earns it forgiveness.

The fact that Magic Mike dancers from the movie showed up at the Las Vegas preview and did some nicely naughty numbers on stage before the film began, or that we were plied with tasty themed cocktails, has nothing to do with my positive review of Magic Mike’s Last Dance.

Well…maybe it does, but let’s get real here—no one expects scintillating dialogue or an intriguing, twisty plot from a frothy movie about male strippers. Spoiler alert: they hardly strip. However — they do titillate in a lovely way, and isn’t that why someone pays to see a Magic Mike movie?

This time around, director Steven Soderbergh has Mike (Channing Tatum) down on his luck. He lost his furniture store and is working as a gig bartender at a charity event. In slinks Maxandra Mendoza (Salma Hayek Pinault), the fabulous and sexy patroness of the event, who finds out Mike is a “dancer,” and convinces him to give her a private dance (with “no happy endings”) for $6,000.

Mike’s comeback performance is so good that Max convinces him to come back to London with her and put together a male dance review in an effort to spite her soon-to-be ex-husband.

It isn’t the most profound plot ever conceived, and character development is at a frustrating minimum. But is that what we’re looking for in a Magic Mike movie? What we’re after is thrusting, gyrating masculine pulchritude, is it not?

In that department, Magic Mike’s Last Dance delivers.

And I’m all for a film that celebrates a relationship between a 56-year-old woman and a 42-year-old man.

It’s the perfect girls’ or gays’ night out movie—an excellent alternative to sitting at home alone on Valentine’s Day if you’re single. If you’re in a relationship, I would caution against bringing your significant other, however. The bodies on those dancers are so very bodacious, and their moves are so electrifying, your S.O. may not ever want to remove his shirt of in front of you again.

Rated R

1 Hour 53 Minutes

If this Magic Mike’s Last Dance review encourages you to strut out to the cineplex and catch a showing, find times and tickets at Fandango.com.

Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Magic Mike’s Last Dance review says it delivers where it counts. If it’s a bit shallow, the slinky, sexy fun earns it forgiveness.