Anderson Unbound
In early-2023, Pamela Anderson was the subject of a Netflix documentary called Pamela, A Love Story, which told the story of the former Baywatch star’s life and career. An authorized doc that was a tie-in for Anderson’s memoir that came out at the same time, Pamela, A Love Story was one of those Framing Britney Spears-esque documentaries, about how a famous woman of decades past had been chewed and spit out by the media and Hollywood. And while the film made that point, it also argued that Anderson wasn’t ever given a chance to show off her acting talent.
I remember watching that and agreeing that Anderson hadn’t been treated fairly, especially when it came to that business with the stolen sex tape, much less a bizarre miniseries that was made about it a couple of years ago. But that last assurance stopped me short—had I ever seen anything showing that Anderson had some hidden acting talent?
After watching The Last Showgirl, I stand corrected. In the film, Anderson has the role of a lifetime, one that’s informed by her own story. Directed by Gia Coppola (the granddaughter of Francis), The Last Showgirl is a riff on The Wrestler. That’s the movie where Mickey Rourke played an aging former pro wrestling star at the end of the line, trying to hang on in a chosen showbiz profession that has passed him by, while also trying to patch things up with his estranged daughter. And Rourke, like Anderson, had a real-life career backstory that served as its own, unspoken commentary on the story.
Anderson’s Shelly Gardner, the long-running star of a past-its-prime Vegas showgirl show at a second-tier casino. Never around for her daughter (Billie Lourd), Shelly’s trying to keep her career going after 30 years, while also mentoring the younger members of the company (Kiernan Shipka and Brenda Song), and pondering how long someone who’s pushing 60 can hang on as a Vegas showgirl.
In addition to Anderson’s capable turn, the film also contains a pair of towering supporting performances, both against type. Jamie Lee Curtis plays a showgirl-turned-cocktail waitress who’s loud and boisterous in a performance that’s no worse than what won her an Oscar in Everything Everywhere All at Once. Dave Bautista plays the boss of the Vegas show as a subdued sad sack in what’s by far his best performance. Much has been made of the wrestler-turned-actor’s recent dramatic weight loss, and as a result, this is the first film of his career in which his hulking size isn’t the first thing you notice about him.
The film also, wisely, keeps the Vegas show off-screen until the very end, spending most of its time backstage, in the characters’ homes, and throughout Las Vegas. It also does a great job presenting a version of Vegas that’s short of glamorous. The Last Showgirl isn’t like Paul Verhoeven’s Showgirls, as the tone’s completely different, and is more serious. But between this and the showgirl-themed network New Year's Eve bloodbath that closes The Substance, it’s a season for creative stories about old-fashioned showgirls. Whether Anderson will have a sustainable acting career after this remains to be seen. But it’s hard to imagine anyone but her in the leading role.