TIFF 2024 Review: The Last Showgirl – “For Pamela Anderson, this is a role she has been waiting to play.”

“I’m 42, but this house is huge and distance helps,” says Shelley (Pamela Anderson) as she auditions for a new dancing job.  But, this is Las Vegas, and it has been some decades now since she landed her gig in Razzle Dazzle, the last remaining traditional showgirl performance on the strip.  For 38 years the women in that show have danced with feather boas, sparkling costumes and large headpieces.  But now, these showgirls, including Shelley, are told they are no longer needed.  And, as Shelley is reminded, she is trying to sell youth and beauty she no longer has to sell.  She is The Last Showgirl.

For some of the women in Razzle Dazzle, like Jodie (Kiernan Shipka) and Marianne (Brenda Song) dancing is a job, but for Shelley, it’s a career.  It’s something she loves.  It took away her nights as she performed, also taking her away from her now estranged daughter Hannah (Billie Lourd looking more and more like her mother).  As Shelley makes her way on stage each night, ushered there by stage manager Eddie (Dave Bautista) she still feels the draw of the spotlight.  She feels seen, powerful, and beautiful on stage, still after all these years.

Check out all of our TIFF coverageBut, now all of them are faced with what to do upon losing a job that no longer exists.  Even the younger women in the show, auditioning for racier, less classy stage shows are told they’re too old.  Shelley sees previous showgirl Annette (Jamie Lee Curtis) as her possible future, now a cocktail waitress at a casino, serving drinks and walking the floor hoping for tips.  As she tries to reconnect with her daughter, Shelley is faced with an uncertain future.

Director Gia Coppola, who was last at the Toronto International Film Festival with Palo Alto in 2013, returns with this drama working from a script by Kate Gersten.  This largely female lens (literally, with cinematography by Autumn Durald Arkapaw) and cast lends a sensitive and knowing perspective to Shelley and the women that surround her.  Coppola sticks close to her cast, in particular Anderson, using some handheld work to capture her characters in Las Vegas.  Outside, these bright and sometimes hazy hues of the city feel almost dreamlike, capturing a beauty of Vegas that we know is as superficial as its hiring practices.  Though for an 85-minute film, there are more than enough shots of Shelley or Hannah wandering the streets aimlessly, that don’t serve much purpose.  They’re beautiful, but take up precious time that could have been otherwise spent.

While Anderson has been getting a lot of the attention for this film, and rightly so, Jamie Lee Curtis, whose Annette, brandishes a wild wig, a dark spray tan and some pretty bright lipstick, is a scene stealer.  She’s loud and funny but also sympathetic, a mirror for Shelley’s character.  Curtis seems to have a lot of fun with this character, but there’s more complexity than at first glance, even while watching her dance to ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart.’

For Pamela Anderson, this is a role she has been waiting to play.  Something meaty, with more depth than you’ve seen her play before.  And she certainly succeeds here, sparkling just as much as the glitter that sometimes makes its way onto Shelley’s face.  She lends a certain vulnerability to Shelley, particularly heartbreaking in some moments.  It’s easy to imagine that Anderson has some shared experiences with her character that help her embody this role so well, being part of the Hollywood machine that also emphasizes youth and beauty. May her success in this film prove her naysayers wrong, and bring her back into the spotlight she deserves.

The Last Showgirl had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival September 6, 2024.  For more information head to tiff.net.

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