The Last Showgirl Review – Pamela Anderson Makes Good

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Some pop culture figures struggle to escape infamous events in their past. For Pamela Anderson, the fame she obtained from the most famous celebrity sex tape of the 1990s haunted her for years. However,The Last Showgirlfinally provides Anderson with material that fits her life. The actress brings out an incredibly nuanced and brilliant performance in the process, delivering a career-best performance.

Pamela Anderson stars in The Last Showgirl

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The Last Showgirl– The Plot

Living in Las Vegas, professional dancer and singer Shelly (Pamela Anderson) continues her role in a long-running show. Shelly becomes a surrogate mother for two of the girls in her sets (Brenda Song & Kiernan Shipka), while struggling to relate to her own daughter (Billie Lourd). When the show’s producer, Eddie (Dave Bautista), tells the group the show is closing, Shelly struggles to find her next steps.

Pamela Anderson brings her history into her performance.

It’s always curious when a filmmaker centers a film around a celebrity, but when done right, the results can be marvelous. Gia Coppola does that withThe Last Showgirl, which puts considerable pressure on Anderson from the jump. Bringing in the audience’s expectations of Anderson as a performer and sex symbol could guarantee an audience, but Coppola and Anderson use that expectation to bring out incredible heart and pathos. ThroughoutThe Last Showgirl,the audience feels Anderson’s desire to break out of the vision audiences had for her in previous decades. Anderson is still the same performer, but she adds a haunting realism and vulnerability that are impossible for most performers to duplicate.

It begins in small moments, as Anderson tries to play off her age as a younger woman. Ideas around ageism in Hollywood and show business is nothing new, and for someone like Anderson, the opportunities to shine were drastically limited as she grew older. Between the parodies of Baywatch and her infamous sex scandal, the public turned Anderson into a punching bag in popular culture.

Biggest Blunders From Golden Globes 2025 Nominations: Saoirse Ronan, Denis Villeneuve Snubbed While Pamela Anderson Competes With Angelina Jolie

Casting Pamela Anderson in any project would come with its questions, especially if there was the belief that it would only be for the stunt of casting her. Anderson imbues Shelly with the frustrations she’s undeniably felt in life. Jobs at casinos, auditions, and even performative aspects of her personal life make it clear that she still believes her star moment is coming. Coppola turns Shelly into an eternal optimist, and watching that optimism fade creates a powerful reaction in the audience. Anderson sells these scenes and her bubbly nature to perfection, which makes the fall hit that much harder.

“She was deepening in her orange color”: Jamie Lee Curtis Couldn’t Resist Paying a Baywatch-style Homage to Pamela Anderson on ‘The Last Showgirl’

Outside of Anderson, Coppola struggles to keepThe Last Showgirlon the rails.

Anderson drives most of the action, and her performance is phenomenal from start to finish.She deserves genuine award buzz for her role, and nominating her for Best Actress might be one of the coolest things The Oscars have ever done. Bautista also rises to the moment, with three of the most heartbreaking scenes of the film. He continues his upward trajectory as a character actor, and someday he will get his flowers for his ability to inspire genuine heart in any role.

However, the other members of the cast feel thin on the page and in the film. Shipka puts the most effort into the role, and her edit does her few favors. The dialogue is rough, and while she becomes a tragic figure, it almost comes out of left field.Jamie Lee Curtispops in for a few scenes, but all feel too much like a caricature to take seriously. It’s not the same tune as her character onThe Bear, but it’s certainly in the same key. This makes her role feel derivative compared to Curtis’ other work.

Pamela Anderson in The Last Showgirl

Coppola struggles with the visual palette ofThe Last Showgirlas well. The use of shallow focus does Coppola few favors. It helps us in the one-shots and occasional close conversations, but it becomes distracting in other sequences. The montages are a bit messy, and the editing fluctuates between too slow and too quick in the transitions. Some polish onThe Last Showgirlwould be antithetical to the ideas in the movie, but the hazy Vegas also feels uninspired. Striking that middle ground would have helpedThe Last Showgirlconsiderably.

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IsThe Last Showgirlworth watching?

Thanks to the performance of Pamela Anderson, this is not only a recommendation. This is one of the must-watches of the year. Her excellence carriesThe Last Showgirlinto rarified air, allowing the actress to finally have her moment to showcase her true talent. A good Bautista and some brilliant sequences makeThe Last Showgirla brilliant depiction of a woman forced to change her life due to the institutional disregard of women. It’s a simple message, but it resonates today. Yet it seems unlikely that anyone would have pegged Pamela Anderson to be the perfect vessel to deliver the point.

The Last Showgirl opens in theaters on July 28, 2025.Roadside Attractions distributes.

“She was deepening in her orange color”: Jamie Lee Curtis Couldn’t Resist Paying a Baywatch-style Homage to Pamela Anderson on ‘The Last Showgirl’