Theatrical The Last Showgirl (2024) (1 Viewer)

The Last Showgirl opened in wide release on December 13, 2024.

Theatres local to me here in Calgary only started showing the movie this past week, so I checked it out over the weekend.

If, a few years ago, you told me that in 2025 I would be enjoying an art house movie staring Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Dave Bautista, I would have looked at you funny.

But here we are.

I thought the movie was quite good.

Without spoilers, the movie is about a group of Vegas showgirls who work for the last "vintage" French-style revue. Pamela Anderson plays Shelly, the aging star who has been with the show for decades. Jamie Lee Curtis is Annette, Shelly's friend who retired a few years back and now waitresses in the slots at a casino on the Vegas strip. Brenda Song and Kiernan Shipka play Mary-Anne and Jodie, respectively, two younger showgirls (Mary-Anne is in her 20s and Jodie is 19) and friends with their "show mom" Shelly. Dave Bautista is the show's stage manager/producer. Billie Lourd plays Shelly's daughter, Hannah.

The movie is directed by Gia Coppola (Francis Ford Coppola's granddaughter), from a story by Kate Gersten.

At 89 minutes including credits, the movie clips along. The ending is a tad rushed, and one or two story beats probably could have used with another 5 minutes each to get fleshed out. But the movie tells the story it wants to tell, and does it well.

Coppola's directing is dreamlike and ethereal. Shot on 16mm, almost exclusively handheld (to my eyes), and using what I understand from interviews to be custom anamorphic lenses. The movie has a blurred and grainy look to it that works quite well. Some reviewers have said the look is distracting at times, but that wasn't my experience. The colour timing was rich and satisfying. Everyone's skin looked good. The Vegas lights had this blown out and sometimes clipped look that was quite interesting.

Lots of close up camera work. Sometimes I wished the camera would stop moving just a little bit so I could focus on the costumes or actors' faces, but I think Coppola was trying to capture the frenetic action of backstage at a show, so it made sense in the moment. Speaking of costumes, the showgirl costumes are vintage Bob Mackie (!!!) and Peter Menefee. They were all incredible.

Editing was quite good. Perhaps one too many wistful sequences of Shelley gazing out on various Vegas locales.

All of the performances were really excellent. While Pamela Anderson doesn't rise to the level of Demi Moore in The Substance, Anderson is no slouch here. She's really locked into this aging beauty who never quite grew up from (or escaped) being a 20-something dancer in a Vegas revue. Her voice and mannerisms are appropriately "young". It starts off as charming, but as the movie goes on, we (just like the character) see that it's actually sort of sad.

Jamie Lee Curtis gives another great supporting performance here. You absolutely believe that her character and Pamela Anderson's character have been friends for decades. The character feels lived in.

David Bautista is really good at the quiet "dude" in cast of women. Like Jamie Lee Curtis, his character feels lived in--a guy who has been "in the booth" for decades.

Brenda Song and Kiernan Shipka round out the main cast, and both bring a different youthful energy to the group dynamic. Brenda Song's character is a bit more cynical (she doesn't know why Shelley likes the show so much), and Kiernan Shipka still new and a bit naive. Shipka in particular shines in the movie; in a way, she's Anderson's co-star. There's something magentic about her performance here (and elsewhere).

Billie Lourd gives a good performance as Shelley's daughter, but I think they messed up the timing either in the writing or the makeup. Her character looks and acts way older than I think she's supposed to be in the movie (unless I misunderstood the timeline).

Overall, I really liked the movie. I'm looking forward to purchasing it on physical media. It's a nice bit of art house-lite.

I'm a sucker for sad and dreamy depictions of very specific slices of life in America.

9/10

[JoeStemmex]

It's hit Hulu now.

THE LAST SHOWGIRL (2024) Hulu. Gia Coppola's whisper thin, but interesting THE LAST SHOWGIRL nonetheless has some interest due in no small part to the 'perfect casting' of Pamela Anderson as the title character. Shelley (Anderson) has been part of a Vegas revue called Razzle Dazzle since its inception in the 80s. She was then the literal poster girl, but is now placed at the back of the stage so that the younger performers take the spotlight. Like Shelley, Razzle Dazzle is showing its age and is no longer a hot ticket in town –in fact, quite the opposite. The rhinestones and glitzy costumes with 'tasteful nudity' is of the past (there are allusions to Paris' famed Crazy Horse Cabaret). The show's manager, Eddie (Dave Bautista) confirms that the end is nigh for the show which sends Shelley into a tailspin. Complicating matters her estranged daughter Hanna (Billie Lourd) is on the verge of high school graduation and comes over for a brief visit.

Kate Gersten's screenplay (loosely based on a real Vegas show called Jubilee!) is better at setting up the situations than delving into them. Shelley's friend Annette (Jamie Lee Curtis) used to be part of Razzle Dazzle but was bounced and now works as a cocktail waitress. Two of the younger members of the troupe (played by Brenda Song and Kiernan Shipka) treat Shelley as a sort of mother figure.The dialogue is spotty and too on point. Coppola, perhaps taking acue from her aunt Sofia, goes for a more dreamy style with an observational mis en scene.

Anderson mostly goes for the no makeup look when not in her stage costume, while Curtis goes full on bronzer and mascara. It's a contrast that brings to the fore the underlying themes. Anderson, who has always had more acting talent than given credit for, is spot on as Shelley. She, too, has gone from cover girl to fading starlet. The scenes which rely less on dialogue and more on Anderson's physical performance are the most potent. The decades have worn on her, but she defiantly defends her choices as an artist and mother. It's her life. Her decisions. Even at the fade-out, she holds her head up high.

P.S. Full Disclosure: I worked with Pamela for a couple of years. I found her gracious and more talented than given credit for.


THE LASTS HOWGIRL is currently streaming on Hulu and is available for rental. It's on Blu Ray.