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DIGITAL

Opening Date

13 Mar 2025

Rating

M18 Nudity and Some Sexual References

Runtime

88 mins

Language

English with no subtitles

Genre

Drama

Director

Gia Coppola

Cast

Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Bautista, Brenda Song, Kiernan Shipka

Synopsis

Shelly, a seasoned showgirl, must plan for her future when her show abruptly closes after a 30-year run. As a dancer in her fifties, she struggles with what to do next. As a mother, she strives to repair a strained relationship with her daughter, who often took a backseat to her showgirl family.

Reviews

By InCinemas 10 Mar 2025

Nothing stays gold forever.

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Sometimes all that glitters is not gold. Most times its a façade to hide the fractured pieces within. All times it’s a coping mechanism for us to feel better about ourselves.

In Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl, she explores the life of middle-aged Las Vegas showgirl Shelly Gardner (Pamela Anderson) as she faces an uncertain future due to the closing of her show. In addition to Anderson is a supporting cast consisting of Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Bautista, Brenda Song, Kiernan Shipka, and Billie Lourd.

Alongside Shelly are: her friend and former showgirl Annette (Curtis) who now works as a cocktail waitress, fellow showgirls Mary-Anne (Song) and Jodie (Shipka) who view the older Shelly as a mother figure though she does not return the affection, and Eddie (Bautista) who produces Le Razzle Dazzle, the show that Shelly, Mary-Anne and Jodie perform in. They act as Shelly’s sounding board as she goes through the motions of her impending unemployment.

Due to the show’s closure, the younger showgirls audition for other shows which Shelly objects for being too raunchy. Instead, she tries to reconcile with her estranged daughter Hannah (Lourd) but the attempt is impaired by the distance Shelly created and absence from Hannah’s life for much of her childhood. Hannah accuses her mother for prioritising the show over her.

It is evident Shelly lives for the spotlight and she’s lived all these years in blissful ignorance of her one-track mind. Now that the light is finally dimming on her career, the harsh reality of her lack of conscience in the relationships with the people in her life is finally catching up to her. It’s hard to fault Shelly’s ambitions as it is to ignore her selfishness. If not for Pamela’s dazzling and vulnerable performance, it would be easier to view Shelly as a less nuanced villain of her own story.

In fact, The Last Showgirl is so much of Shelly’s story it’s almost as if the supporting characters aren’t fleshed out enough for us to care about them too much because Shelly doesn’t. (Save for Annette whose job is threatened by younger hires, doubling down on the film’s focus on aging women.) Curtis delivers an underrated performance that imbues both strength and vulnerability–especially with that poignant dance sequence to “Total Eclipse of the Heart”.

Coppola frames her subjects in tight intimate shots that highlights every heartbreaking moment. For most of the film, the characters are so in-your-face it’s almost nauseating but this dubious decision leads to satisfying payoffs when the camera does pan out to show us more of Shelly’s world.

The Last Showgirl is a raw and tragic unpolished gem that could do with a little refining but is still worth every minute of your time.
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