REVIEW #437 The Last Showgirl (2025)

The Last Showgirl

Synopsis

A seasoned showgirl in the Razzle Dazzle performance in Las Vegas must plan a new direction for life when the show comes to an end after a 30+ year run.

My Review

Pamela Anderson is the perfect fit for Shelly Gardner and The Last Showgirl and she seizes the opportunity to drop a career best performance. There are a lot of themes shaken and stirred into the central narrative here, each tackled with a blend of humour and drama through its talented cast. The difficulties of being a single mum whilst holding on to a passionate career, the performance industries obsession with beauty and the problems that creates years down the line. All of these subjects were handled nicely by director Gia Coppola, subtly woven into a role made for Anderson. The chemistry between the entire cast (Jamie Lee Curtis, Brenda Song, Kiernan Shipka, Billie Lourde and Dave Bautista), really helped provide a level of authenticity to the movie, something that created an almost documentary style of realism. This was reaffirmed by the 16mm film used to shoot the film that provided the matching aesthetic and worked brilliantly with the many intimate shots scattered throughout the film. Unfortunately, some of the scenes at the start, did fall out of focus and became blurry, it didn’t feel intentional and actually, they were quite distracting for me at times. Nonetheless I enjoyed the experience and it had a uniqueness to it that made it a refreshing piece of cinema.

My rating: 7.3 out of 10.

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