Former Baywatch babe Pamela Anderson displays hitherto unknown depths in this tale of backstage drama in glamorous Vegas.
How to watch The Last Showgirl in New Zealand
The Last Showgirl is now playing in New Zealand cinemas.
What is The Last Showgirl about?
Anderson is Shelly Gardner, an ageing showgirl working in an old school revue on the glitzy Las Vegas strip. When show producer Eddie announces they’ll be closing permanently in two weeks, she casts around for a new gig and finds that Vegas only loves winners, at the same time trying to reconcile with her estranged adult daughter, Hannah. An unflinching but empathetic look at the working class grind that underpins Las Vegas’s glamour, The Last Showgirl vibes like a gender-flipped riff on Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler.
The cast of The Last Showgirl
Pamela Anderson is veteran showgirl Shelly Gardner; Jamie Lee Curtis is her best friend Annette, a former showgirl now working as a waitress in a cocktail bar; Billie Lourd is Hannah Gardner, Shelly’s daughter; Kiernan Shipka and Brenda Song are younger showgirls Mary-Anne and Jodie; Dave Bautista is revue producer Eddie; and Jason Schwartzman is a director, apparently nameless. Gia Coppola, Francis’ granddaughter, directs, from a screenplay by Kate Gersten, adapted from the latter’s unproduced play, Body of Work.
The Last Showgirl trailer
Why we’re excited about The Last Showgirl
It’s hard to ignore the rapturous critical response to Coppola’s third film, particularly the attention paid to Anderson’s captivating performance. Certainly, it’s tinged with a bit of “we never knew we had it in her”, but the metatextual element is undeniable – if anyone knows about being commodified and dehumanised by the entertainment industry it’s Anderson, who was both a headline and a punchline for ages. Seeing her deliver such a raw, self aware performance is definitely the main drawcard her, and we’ll take it.
