Introduction
The movie opens in the US, where Mike now is a 40-year-old man who has quit his old job as a male stripper. Tito, one of his old stripper friends calls him but he ignores the call. Mike now is a bartender who is working a gig for Mrs Rattigan. After an old client recognises Mike, Mrs Rattigan asks him to strip for him. She introduces herself as Max and claims that she is willing to pay Mike for his services. She promises to pay him $6,000 for one dance instead of his request – of $60,000.
Mike initially hesitates but when Max claims that she is dealing with something and wants to get her mind off things, Mike puts on a show in his house and the two eventually end up in bed together. Mike tells Max that he did not strip for money and Max is touched by his gesture.
She claims she has the right gig for him and asks him to move to London for a month. Max is wealthy, and on their private flight to London, she claims to tell Mike that she has a job for him. She states that the gig would pay $60,000 – the amount Mike is looking for. Mike agrees to go to London with her but insists on never dancing again. Max tells him that the job does not particularly involve dancing in front of an audience.
Project Isabella Ascendent Revolution
In London, Mike learns that Max is a lot wealthier than he thought. He seems out of place there but is curious to know what the gig is. Mike gets a call from Richie which he ignores yet again. Max takes Mike out to give him a London makeover. She finally takes him to The Rattigan, a theatre she owns.
Max tells Mike that she was the actress in one of the plays when the owner of the theatre – Roger Rattigan fell in love with her. She states that now that she was getting a divorce, she owned the theatre and would be taking over the place. Max informs the director of the ongoing play – ‘Isabella Ascendent’ that he was fired and that Mike will be replacing him as the director of the play.
Mike is gob-smacked with the information and is having a hard time understanding what Max wants from him. She states that after her recent adventure in the states (here she means the dance with Mike) she feels a sense of desire and wishes to bring the idea of female pleasure to The Rattigan.
Finding the strippers
After meeting Max’s adoptive daughter, Zadie for the first time, Mike learns that there must be a lot more to Max than what meets the eye. Once back at home, he decides to give his old friends from the stripper circle, Ken, Richie, Tito and Tarzan via video chat and informs them that he will soon be able to repay the money that he owes them.
Max interrupts the chat and shows Mike a new dancer that she has already scouted from Italy. It seems like Max is bulldozing the show with her own ideas but Mike tries to run with it. Zadie snoops in on her mother and Mike’s conversation in his room and seems confused.
The next day, Max and Mike take audition the dancers Max’s assistant has scouted for the show. Together they scout more guys who can dance from the streets of London as well as other places. Max is trying to find an identity for herself as the producer and show-runner for Rattigan Theatre but Mike seems disconnected from the show.
After an old member of the original play shows up, Mike gets the idea to have the original play as the centre of the new show. They decide to have an ‘Isabella Ascendant Revolution’ where the leading lady is not stuck choosing between the ‘shitty rich guy and the poor guy with a heart of gold’ but can choose any man she likes. They run with the idea and Mike starts choreographing dances around this new plot.
Max’s sudden temper tantrum
Mike joins Max for a social dinner with her friends where he tries to charm them with his awkward humour. When she is away, Max’s friends bitch about Max and tell Mike that the Rattigans won’t leave Max just like that. They add that the prenup Roger made her sign would ensure that she never gets a dime unless she pretends to be in a happy marriage with Roger.
Max is upset about what her friends said about her and throws a tantrum in the car with Max when he stops her mid-kiss. She claims that she is drunk and that Mike pushed her away. Max starts overthinking and Mike is having a hard time trying to make things right.
The next morning, Zadie tells Mike that she is writing a novel but leaves out the fact that the novel is about Mike and Max’s new business/personal relationship. Roger shows up and is shocked to learn that Mike is living in the same house with Zadie and Max. Meanwhile, at Rattigan, Max ends up lashing out at Mike for not making more use of the stage with his choreography.
The Rattigan gets a makeover
Once things start getting back to normal, the theatre is revamped to seat its new audience. All of a sudden, government officials barge into The Rattigan and slap Max with a notice for revamping the theatre. Max is close to giving up on the project but Mike learns that the head of the theatre association that sent the notice is a woman named Edna. He sets up a mob dance with the strippers to convince Edna on a bus ride and it somehow works.
Edna approves the makeover. With things going back to normal, Max drops in her two cents on the performance. She states that Mike should take part in the dancing for the show to stand out but Mike does not want to dance again. Max’s driver Victor tells him to open his mind to Max’s newfound passion and shares why he looks up to her so much.
Roger Rattigan’s hand in shutting down the theatre
Just when things were going back to normal, Edna shows up at The Rattigan again and shared that the association was slapping another notice. She claims that the higher-ups have found something wrong with the theatre’s new makeover and would have to retain the shutdown notice.
Max confronts Roger and learns that he was behind the notices. Roger tells Max that he is on her side and wants to save the name of his family that Max is ruining by associating with a stripper. He adds that Mike is only using her for her money.
Max and Mike’s argument
Max starts thinking about what Roger said and knows in her heart that Mike is the only person who believes in her dream. She starts wondering if she means anything to Mike at all. However, once back at The Rattigan, Max tells Mike that the show was done for and that he will have to go back to the states now that they were not running the project any longer.
The two argue and Max promises to pay him despite the failure of the show. Mike states that he does not care about the money but wants Max to trust him despite the hiccups. They are out in the rain and Max walks away from him leaving Mike alone outside The Rattigan.
Magic Mike’s Last Dance
Mike doesn’t want things to just end like that and sends Zadie a text saying the show is still on. Max is moping in her room but the others are working in full swing on The Isabelle Ascendant: Revolution. Zadie sends an invitation to show to a target audience of women online so as to never leave a trace of the show behind.
On the night of the opening, Zadie and Victor pull Max out of bed and force her to go to the show. At The Rattigan, people start showing up Zadie states that this was a big gamble for Mike and Max. The play opens normally initially, but Isabella introduces the strippers who put on a special show.
Mike himself joins the dance and performs an elaborate water dance segment of his relationship with Max right from their first meeting. After Mike’s segment is over, the strippers dance to ‘Pony’ which sends the audience into cheers. Mike finds Max in the audience and the two hug and ends up confessing their feelings for each other as they kiss.
What do you think of the story of Magic Mike’s Last Dance? Have we missed any crucial details in this recap? Do let us know in the comments below!