She plays Shelly, a veteran showgirl on the Las Vegas strip who acts as a den mother to younger colleagues Mary-Anne (Brenda Song) and Jodie (Kiernan Shipka). Shelly is the last of a dying breed. Her skills are in that old-school burlesque style that’s a mix of kitsch and flash. When stage manager Eddie (the excellent Dave Bautista) announces the show is going to close, Shelly finds herself adrift. What she does is no longer in vogue, which threatens to turn her into a relic.
What Anderson does magnificently in the role is to sell her character’s inability to accept that she’s a dinosaur. Trying to put up a cheery façade, Shelly expresses optimism that she’ll be able to apply her trade elsewhere. We can see in her eyes and hear in her often-trembly voice that she’s not convincing herself, much less anybody else. It’s almost as though putting on a smile and performing is her default mode. Anderson creates a character we feel great sympathy for because we know she’s being unfairly put out to pasture.
The Last Showgirl has a couple of interesting subplots. One is a potential romance between Shelly and Eddie that doesn’t play out quite how you’d expect. The other involves Shelly trying to reconnect with her estranged daughter Hannah (Billie Lourd), a young woman who resents the many nights her mother spent on a stage instead of being at home. These arcs help to flesh out Shelly’s world, illustrating how her personal life has suffered at the expense of her career.
For comic relief, Jamie Lee Curtis does another wild Everything Everywhere All at Once-type physical transformation playing Shelly’s best friend Annette, an heavily-tanned, overly-makeup-ed cocktail waitress who refuses to act her age. A scene where she stands in the middle of a casino and dances to Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” without a shred of self-consciousness is a highlight of the film.
Director Gia Coppola includes a lot of montages in which Shelly walks around Vegas looking at the sights. That helps to get across her relationship with a city that may no longer love her back. Coppola relies on them too often, however, causing the story to intermittently slow down. You can’t help feeling that at least a few of those minutes would be better spent developing the relationships Shelly has with Eddie or Hannah.
Nonetheless, Pamela Anderson’s sincere, charismatic performance is enough to hold everything together. Her final shot in the picture encompasses so many emotions that you may find yourself getting choked up. Either way, you’ll never look at Anderson dismissively again after seeing this movie.
out of four
The Last Showgirl is rated R for language and nudity. The running time is 1 hour and 29 minutes.
© 2025 Mike McGranaghan