Warning: The article contains minor spoilers for Magic Mike’s Last Dance.
The half-naked boys are back out there on stage shaking it for the crowd as Magic Mike’s Last Dance is teasing to be the final installment of the franchise. After being released for just one day, the film reminds one very astute fan of a business Paul Rudd ran in an old movie he starred in almost a decade ago.
Played by Channing Tatum, Mike Lane is a retired stripper who finds his way back into the business after his furniture business falls apart during the pandemic. Also starring Alex Pettyfer, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganello, and Matthew McConaughey, the first film has Magic Mike trying to get the money to open a furniture business but constantly coming up short. In the second film, he finally has his business but it isn’t going well. By the time Magic Mike’s Last Dance rolls in, Mike has already lost his business.
Magic Mike’s failing furniture business reminds some very sharp movie aficionados of the 2014 Paul Rudd film They Came Together.
In it, Paul Rudd plays the part of Joel who is a corporate stooge sent to shut down Molly’s mom-and-pop candy shop. Molly is played by the hilarious Amy Poehler in this parody of romance films. In the end, they end up together and he opens up a coffee shop next to the candy shop he was sent to shut down. To add to the humor, that’s not really the ending as another layer of ending is revealed — that Molly and Joel didn’t work out and neither did the coffee shop.
Sounds a lot like the half-assed plan Channing Tatum’s character has had for his business aspirations from day one, doesn’t it?
Well, Reddit member DeBatton has pointed out the same. “Mike’s furniture business seems to constantly fail and need restarting. I’m starting to think he had the same kind of half-assed business plan as Paul Rudd’s dream coffee shop in They Came Together.”
Though the rom-com wasn’t exactly a box-office winner, Magic Mike’s Last Dance, with a 5.7/10 IMDb score and a 46% Tomatometer score, isn’t giving it much in terms of competition. And while Mike does seem to share the same number of brain cells as Paul Rudd’s character, some would gladly pick the latter over watching the continuing saga of the retired male stripper.
But the fact remains that both characters have made some very senseless choices. Mike wouldn’t be in such a mess that he has to come out of stripper retirement if he had a better business plan, just like Paul Rudd in They Came Together as he also didn’t have a solid business plan even though he was a know-it-all corporate stooge who has the whacky notion that he knows what’s best for business. Figure that one out!