The Last Showgirl: Review. By Jake Peffer.

The Last Showgirl follows Shelly (Pamela Anderson), a seasoned showgirl who loves nothing more than getting to perform in her Vegas show. She has been in the show for 30 years and has loved every minute of it. When Shelly and her fellow performers are informed that the show will be closing after 30 years, she must plan for her future and find a new avenue in life. Shelly struggles as this has been her career for so long and now she doesn’t know how to move on after such an abrupt, life-changing event.

We’ve seen this story before, time and time again. An actor or actress who has faded out of the limelight for an extended period, comes back for a role like you’ve never seen from them before. While this trend does work for some, it also feels like a swing and a miss for others. Unfortunately for Pamela Anderson, this doesn’t quite feel like her big comeback. Giving credit where it is due, Anderson is really trying here. There are scenes throughout where she gives it her all and is making the effort to make this work. With that being said, Anderson isn’t a strong enough actress to pull off this material. Everyone else in the cast is acting circles around her, despite her best efforts.

Director Gia Coppola makes some interesting decisions behind the camera. Her direction is awkward at times and even though the runtime is only 85 minutes, it feels like there is a lot of dead time that could be utilized to flesh out more of the story or give some more time to some of the side characters. At times throughout, there looks like there is a blur filter on the camera. This effect makes scenes look unnecessarily bad and is more of a distraction than an interesting direction choice. 

As far as what does work, the rest of the cast all give solid performances. Jamie Lee Curtis, Kiernan Shipka and Brenda Song are all great as close friends of Shelly. Billie Lourd plays Shelly’s daughter Hannah and there are some good scenes between the two of them. Though his screen time is somewhat limited, Dave Bautista shows once again that he is a more than capable actor. He brings a certain charm to his performance that is a welcome addition.

There is so much potential here and it mostly feels like a missed opportunity. Putting a stronger actress in the lead role that is more capable of handling this material would completely elevate this story. While it’s not all bad, the execution is the biggest problem with The Last Showgirl. Some good performances help keep this afloat, but this is mostly a dull and bleak look at an uninteresting character.

Rating: 5/10

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