Movie Review: ‘The Last Showgirl’

While Pamela Anderson gives a raw, poignant performance that’s likely the best of her career, ‘The Last Showgirl’ treads well-worn narrative ground.

Pamela Anderson in 'The Last Showgirl'. Photo: Roadside Attractions.

Opening in theaters January 10th is ‘The Last Showgirl,’ directed by Gia Coppola and starring Pamela Anderson, Dave Bautista, Jamie Lee Curtis, Billie Lourd, Kiernan Shipka, Brenda Song, and Jason Schwartzman.

Initial Thoughts

Pamela Anderson in 'The Last Showgirl'. Photo: Roadside Attractions.

It’s lately been a thing that a number of our best-known actresses have delivered performances that were especially raw physically, emotionally, or both, with many of them involving a change in appearance about as far from red carpet movie star glamour as one could imagine. Amy Adams in ‘Nightbitch.’ Demi Moore in ‘The Substance.’ Jamie Lee Curtis in ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once.’ And now you can add one-time ‘Baywatch’ star and all-around TV sexpot Pamela Anderson to that list with her achingly poignant work in ‘The Last Showgirl.’

The movie itself, directed by Gia Coppola (yes, a third-generation Coppola filmmaker), isn’t going to change the world, and it may not even change much about the current status of Anderson’s career. But it shows that underneath the pneumatic figure and red bathing suit that defined much of her tenure, Anderson is capable of pulling a fine piece of acting out of her heart and soul. Shelley Gardner, the last showgirl of the title, is far from perfect, but she’s endearing and human and worth your time, even if the movie itself is merely okay.

Story and Direction

'The Last Showgirl' director Gia Coppola.

As ‘The Last Showgirl’ opens – after a prologue in which we see Shelley nervously about to embark on an audition – we learn that the Las Vegas show she’s been part of for 30 years, “Le Razzle Dazzle,” has been given its last rites and will close in two weeks. Shelley and some of her friends in the ensemble – younger dancers like Jodie (Kiernan Shipka) and Mary-Anne (Brenda Song) who treat her like a reluctant mother figure – are informed of this by Eddie (Dave Bautista), their quiet stage manager with whom it’s hinted that Shelley has a history. But the more immediate concern for all is where they go from here.

For Shelley, it’s an especially tough blow: she sees “Le Razzle Dazzle” as “the last true showgirl show in Vegas,” with its peekaboo nudity and old-school raunchiness giving way to either more explicit sexcapades or family-friendly spectacles like the circus that’s taking over their stage. “They used to treat us like movie stars,” Shelley says mournfully at one point. “Ambassadors for style and grace.” She’s even in the 1980s press shots for the show – which means it’s going to be even harder for her to find work in something new, as a casting director (Jason Schwartzman) viciously points out in the scene that we eventually circle back to from the prologue.

Jamie Lee Curtis in 'The Last Showgirl'. Photo: Roadside Attractions.

She could become a cocktail waitress like her friend Annette (Jamie Lee Curtis), a former dancer who can barely fit into her work uniform and can’t make ends meet when she’s around slot machines all the time. But Shelley has always aspired to be onstage – an ambition in life that once almost led her to the Rockettes (“I found all that kicking very redundant”) but that also led her, on a more serious note, to all but abandon her daughter Hannah (Billie Lourd), now about to graduate college, who Shelley wants to reconnect with.

The tension between Hannah and Shelly forms the main spine of ‘The Last Showgirl,’ in addition to the impending end of the show, but it turns out that those are barely enough to sustain the film’s 90-minute runtime. It’s not an expensive movie, to be sure, with much of it taking place either in Shelley’s cramped little house or the equally small backstage area of the show. But despite its meaningful themes, it’s also not as fleshed-out as it could be. Bewildering montages of Shelley and/or Hannah wandering the avenues of Vegas among its monstrous edifices of vice make it painfully obvious that Coppola is stretching the film to feature length.

Which is a shame because there’s room for more here. Shelley is no angel: “Mothers aren’t saints or saviors,” she says, “Just regular people doing the best they can with the tools they have.” Yet the movie kind of papers over the fact that she left her child behind to pursue her dreams – dreams which led her to spend most of her life in what Hannah calls “a stupid nudie show” when she finally sees what she lost her mom to. There’s something subversive about the idea of Shelley sacrificing a normal relationship with her child and not exactly regretting it, but the movie doesn’t examine this – or much else – in too much depth, relying instead on Anderson to carry it forward.

The Cast

(L to R) Jamie Lee Curtis and Pamela Anderson star in 'The Last Showgirl'.

Make no mistake, this is the Pamela Anderson show. She still cuts an impressive figure even though she’s a long way from her TV lifeguard days, and there’s no doubt that in her work here she is channeling her own journey from ‘Baywatch’ breakout to failed movie star to sex tape joke to righteous animal activist. But while we don’t imagine this will jumpstart her acting career, this is still surprisingly resonant work from the actor. Anderson brings both a vulnerability and a steely dignity to the role of Shelley, and certainly stretches herself for this role in a way that her previous onscreen work never hinted at.

Also impressive is Jamie Lee Curtis disappearing again into an almost unrecognizable, deglammed role as Annette, while Dave Bautista adds to his own catalog of sensitive, empathetic performances that belie his physical bulk. Less memorable are Billie Lourd as Shelley’s daughter and both Brenda Song and Kiernan Shipka as her friends from the show, all of whom are fine but don’t get quite the character depth as the three leads. Lourd’s Hannah in particular has a reactive turn halfway through the movie that doesn’t seem believable, although the emotions between Hannah and Shelley feel real. Meanwhile, Jason Schwartzman cameos as that callous casting director in what must be his 118th film appearance of the past year.

Final Thoughts

Pamela Anderson in 'The Last Showgirl'. Photo: Roadside Attractions.

‘The Last Showgirl’ touches on a lot of genuine issues: aging, identity, responsibility, and the fear of irrelevance, all filtered through the perspective of women who almost always have it way tougher when it comes to these challenges. Yet “touches” is the right word, because ‘The Last Showgirl’ doesn’t spend a lot of time on any of them and as a film is rather evanescent and lightly developed.

As a vehicle for a woman who has no doubt grappled with these issues herself, ‘The Last Showgirl’ is fascinating. It will change your perspective on Pamela Anderson, who appears here – to trot out a well-worn phrase – like you’ve never seen her before, and it will make you think about the way women are carelessly tossed to the side in show business – and other businesses – like clothes that are no longer in fashion. “I just have to disappear,” Shelley says bitterly near the end, before asserting that she has “no regrets, none.” Despite its flaws, Anderson should have no regrets about starring in ‘The Last Showgirl,’ and in the end you should have none about watching her in it.

‘The Last Showgirl’ receives 6.5 out of 10 stars.

The Last Showgirl

R1 hr 29 minJan 10th, 2025

Showtimes & Tickets

The Last Showgirl, a poignant film of resilience, rhinestones and feathers, stars Pamela Anderson as Shelly, a glamorous showgirl who must plan for her future when... Read the Plot