‘The Last Showgirl’: Pamela Anderson’s 2nd Showbiz Career Begins

Shelly (Pamela Anderson) giving it her all for the last show of her 30-year run, in "The Last Showgirl." Roadside Attractions

R | 1h 28m | Drama, Dance | Jan. 10, 2025  

Astoundingly famous in the 1990s, Pamela Anderson—the buttery-blonde, poofy-lipped, former “Bay Watch” star, and erstwhile Playboy bunny—has remade herself.

The Canadian backwoods good-girl who married the American bad-boy rockstar (Tommy Lee of heavy-metal, glam-rock band Mötley Crüe) and drove the world’s men mad with desire for a couple of decades has embraced wholesome aging. Like some British actresses, she’s completely jettisoned all her make-up as of late, and is now presenting herself with authenticity and integrity, in all her pale-and-wan (but still formidably attractive) glory.

Shelly (Pamela Anderson) contemplates the end of her career as a dancer, in "The Last Showgirl." Roadside Attractions

She’s currently starring in “The Last Showgirl,” directed by Francis Ford Coppola’s granddaughter Gia. The movie features another aging actress. Jamie Lee Curtis (formerly known as “The Body” in Hollywood) joins Anderson in throwing vanity to the wind and being old in front of the camera. Very commendable. However, the movie is fairly lightweight, and a bit depressing.

What It Is

Shot in Las Vegas over a 18-day period, “The Last Showgirl” documents the last gasp of dancers putting on the final run of a classic, glitzy, Rhinestone-dripping, Rockette-stemmed, pasties-and-feathery headdress-bedecked, burlesque Vegas Strip extravaganza. They’re no longer in vogue.

Shelly (Pamela Anderson) takes in the view of Vegas from the roof of the theater where she's performed for 30 years, in "The Last Showgirl." Roadside Attractions

“The Last Showgirl” shares the desperation of dancers so well documented in “A Chorus Line,” one of Broadways longest running shows. Las Vegas’s own record-breaking show, “Jubilee!” closed down in 2016. Some of the former “Jubilee!” dancers are in the “The Last Showgirl” cast.

Anderson

Pamela Anderson finally gets to flex her acting chops in this slight film, playing washed-up Shelly, a showgirl hanging onto the end of her dance career by her fingernails. Her performance is raw and authentic, albeit a bit lightweight, but that’s more of a script problem. With a better script and a more seasoned director, Anderson might’ve currently been looking at an Oscar bid.

The problematic concept is that this woman danced, essentially, in the background of a not particularly sophisticated show, for 30 years, and goes on and on and on about the glamor, and the costumes, and how sublime it all was. It was so utterly captivating to her that she neglected her only daughter.

Her daughter Hannah (Billie Lourd) shows up to express her disappointment and resentment about being considered unimportant, and to shame her mother for abandoning her in order to live this utterly unremarkable life of a fifth-string dancer.

Shelly’s often so overwhelmed with her own problems that she refuses to help the lost young dancers in the show who look to her for mothering. She doesn’t have the bandwidth. This tends to be the self-involved behavior of an unrecovered addict or alcoholic, but Shelley appears to be neither, so it’s a bit of headscratcher. She’s clearly addicted to the glamor, but someone that addicted to the spotlight is highly likely to also have substance-abuse issues.

Eddie (Dave Bautista), in "The Last Showgirl." Roadside Attractions

There’s a career-best, quiet, gentle performance from big ex-wrestler Dave Bautista. Jamie Lee Curtis, playing the garishly made-up, former showgirl cocktail-waitress Annette, who’s got a gambling problem, is the epitome of actor-courage. She dances on tables in an outfit that would’ve looked great back when she was “The Body,” but there’s an exploitative feel to this scene that feels unnecessary. Maybe it was intended to engender empathy in the viewer, in which case it feels like a youthful director’s lack of discernment regarding discretion, but it’s probably meant to bring up disgust and pity for the seamy side of showbiz. In that case, it utterly succeeds.

Annette (Jamie Lee Curtis, L) and Shelly (Pamela Anderson) near the Vegas slot machines, in "The Last Showgirl." Roadside Attractions

Creature of Showbiz

It’s easy to not take someone with Anderson’s looks seriously in the acting department. Tom Cruise, in his early career, would be a male example of this, and is, to this day, underrated. But to maintain fame for as long as Anderson has, points to a high intelligence and deep savvy. She knows how to navigate the treacherous seas of the most difficult business in the world.

What she really appears to be, is what I call a “Creature of Showbiz.” A Creature of Showbiz is going to have acting chops, regardless of whether they got eclipsed by stunning looks to the point where we didn’t notice them. Backwoods-Canadian or not, Anderson immediately knew how to be famous along the the best of them. Early clips of her are reminiscent of nature videos of baby otters and ducks who’ve never swam before and are put in a bathtub. They are Creatures of Water. They swim. A Creature of Showbiz has staying power.

Shelly (Pamela Anderson) giving it her all for the last show of her 30-year run, in "The Last Showgirl." Roadside Attractions

Albeit still using her little-girl-breath-y, Marilyn Monroe-esque voice, and her perky blondness, Anderson exits sex-kitten territory with vehemence, and commendably chews the scenery. However, this wasn’t quite the role for a break-out movie. This particular star vehicle could have worked, but needed an older director with more gravitas, like Gia’s uncle Francis. 

While the movie’s lightweight, Pamela Anderson is now living her life on-mission, the repercussions of which will possibly end up taking the world by storm. While finishing up this review, I watched the clip of her being interviewed by Drew Barrymore, along with Valerie Bertinelli.

All of them, empowered by Anderson, sit, sans make-up, and talk about finding themselves, and finally feeling free. Emboldened, Barrymore takes it a step further and publicly pulls out all her hair extensions. This trend may displease some men, but I have a feeling the world’s women are going to look at Anderson’s courage and new dedication to truthfulness as heroic.

[caption id=“attachment_5791038” align=“aligncenter” width=“828”] Promotional poster for “The Last Showgirl.” (Roadside Attractions)[/caption]

‘The Last Showgirl’ Director: Gia Coppola Starring: Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Bautista, Billie Lourd MPAA Rating: R Running Time: 1 hour, 29 minutes Release Date: Jan. 10, 2025 Rating: 3 stars out of 5

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