The Last Showgirl (2024) Review: Pamela Anderson Showcases Her Best Acting Performance in a Sombre and Heartfelt Drama

The last thing on my mind when mentioned the name Pamela Anderson is her acting prowess. Besides, the once-revered sex symbol is known more as an object of desire than anything else ever since she rose to stardom in the long-running Baywatch series back in the early ’90s. But The Last Showgirl is something that I never expected from Anderson, now 57 years old, pulling off the performance of her lifetime.

As the title suggests, she plays the eponymous Las Vegas showgirl Shelly, who’s been dancing for decades at Le Razzle Dazzle revue since the ’80s. But times have changed, especially after the show’s producer, Eddie (Dave Bautista) becomes the unfortunate bearer of bad news announcing that Le Razzle Dazzle will be shut down in favour of a more profitable, raunchy circus-like showgirl performance. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, particularly for Shelly, who is practically spending her lifetime dedicated to her job.

With the show closing soon, she is stuck with nowhere to go and there’s nothing she can do about it to revive Le Razzle Dazzle. Not even Eddie can help it other than feeling pity all about it. Working from Kate Gersten’s feature-length screenwriting debut, previously a TV series writer such as Mozart in the Jungle, The Good Place and Lost Ollie, Gia Coppola — the granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola — approaches her movie in a sympathetic light of the otherwise glamorous and razzle-dazzle life of a Las Vegas showgirl’s profession.

Despite the title, this isn’t the type you will expect something like Paul Verhoeven’s otherwise much-maligned but eventual cult classic Showgirls. Instead, it has none of the gratuitous and male-gazing approach since Coppola is more interested in portraying the profession in an unbiased, yet neutral manner. Losing a job at a later age like Anderson’s Shelly is no doubt a painful experience, especially when it’s something she loves the most to the point she prioritizes it more than raising her daughter Hannah (Billie Lourd). Shelly tries to make up the lost time by reconciling with her but the initial meeting is awkward at first like two strangers meeting for the first time.

But deep down, Hannah still hates her mother for what she did in the past, abandoning her when she needs her the most. Whereas Shelly’s younger friends and fellow dancers including Mary-Anne (Brenda Song) and Jodie (Kiernan Shipka) already moved on to audition for other shows, she refuses to join them because she claims the shows are too racy.

Shelly’s stubborn mindset remains trapped in her own bubble as she has a hard time keeping up with the time and the scariest thing of all, fear of change. It’s hard to blame someone like Shelly who’s been in the comfort zone for far too long and thanks to Coppola for bringing out the best in Anderson, proving the actress does have the better-than-expected acting chops after all. The movie also features Jamie Lee Curtis in an unrecognisable supporting turn as Shelly’s older best friend and former showgirl-turned-cocktail waitress Annette, especially given her deep-tan facial complexion, bold eye makeup and shiny silver lip gloss.

The story may have been delving into the depressing subject matters about job loss and middle-age crisis but The Last Showgirl is thankfully far from the kind of dour and lifeless drama. The overall acting certainly helps a lot, notably from Anderson’s tour de force performance, particularly in the later scene where she auditions for the role of a dancer, only to be bluntly judged and criticized by the person in charge before she decides to fight back to retain some of her dignity. Coppola also has an eye for dreamy visuals that reflect Shelly’s narrow worldview on how she sees things from her perspective.

The Last Showgirl isn’t entirely successful with some of the story threads just glossed over such as the case with Shelly and Hannah’s estranged mother-daughter relationship. But even with the flaws, this drama remains a tremendous acting showcase for Pamela Anderson and an overall commendable effort from Gia Coppola, who’s only directed her third feature after Palo Alto and Mainstream.