The Last Showgirl review: Pamela Anderson is 'a revelation' in poignant Las Vegas-set drama
Gia Coppola's latest is an atmospheric and sympathetic drama about the showgirls on the Vegas strip, featuring "sharply drawn characters" and outstanding performances from Jamie Lee Curtis and Pamela Anderson.
Pamela Anderson is a revelation and Jamie Lee Curtis is funny and heart-rending in Gia Coppola's poignant, Las Vegas-set
The Last Showgirl. Anderson plays Shelley, a dancer who has been in the same revue for 30 years, and has just learned the show is closing. She has not just lost a job she adored, at an age when she is unlikely to get another like it; she has lost her very identity.
In a supporting role, Curtis is her friend, Annette, once a showgirl and now hanging on as a cocktail waitress at the same club. That's not an ideal job for someone like her, with a gambling problem. Although Las Vegas is known for glitz, Anderson and Curtis's lack of vanity in the roles is among the film's most powerful features. Coppola depicts their lives with sympathy but also with clear-eyed honesty about the dreams they never achieved and the youth that's impossible to reclaim.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 47 | December 1, 2024 5:34 PM
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I hope she steals the entirety of Angelina's thunder.
by Anonymous | reply 1 | September 7, 2024 7:19 PM
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r6 A single star? Bitch, please. Clearly bending over backwards to shit on it.
by Anonymous | reply 7 | September 7, 2024 9:04 PM
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Pamela Anderson loves dictators and is on Putin’s payroll. Fuck her. Ugly cunt.
by Anonymous | reply 8 | September 7, 2024 9:43 PM
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Big comeback? Comeback from what? A sex tape? Baywatch?
by Anonymous | reply 9 | September 7, 2024 9:44 PM
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R6. The Guardian seems to stand alone in their criticism.
by Anonymous | reply 10 | September 7, 2024 9:48 PM
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Pamela and Demi both getting the best reviews of their careers. Good for them. I love it.
by Anonymous | reply 11 | September 7, 2024 10:10 PM
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And both Anderson and Moore are getting Oscar buzz.
by Anonymous | reply 12 | September 14, 2024 5:09 PM
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[quote]The commentary on gender and age feels easy and unspecific and the world of the Vegas showgirl created from too great of a distance to really ring true.
Oh dear, Guardian.
by Anonymous | reply 13 | September 14, 2024 5:16 PM
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They're both correct, although "too great of a" is considered less formal and more conversational.
by Anonymous | reply 14 | September 14, 2024 5:21 PM
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Anytime someone says an actor is a 'revelation' - just toss it in the bin.
So hackey and over-used. Ugh.
Hope it gets Pam some other jobs - I miss seeing her.
by Anonymous | reply 15 | September 14, 2024 5:23 PM
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R5 that’s academy award winner and recent Emmy winner, JLC, you feckless cunt!
by Anonymous | reply 16 | September 14, 2024 5:26 PM
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This seems more akin to Simon Rex getting Oscar Buzz. Would be awesome to see it happen to Pamela Anderson though.
by Anonymous | reply 17 | September 14, 2024 5:27 PM
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r17 Your comment doesn't even make sense
by Anonymous | reply 18 | September 14, 2024 5:30 PM
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R19 haven’t you seen her Activia commercials? Jamie Lee already had like 3 number 2s today!
by Anonymous | reply 20 | September 14, 2024 6:14 PM
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Can't wait, sounds fabulous! I love Pam and Jamie Lee!
by Anonymous | reply 21 | September 14, 2024 6:45 PM
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Nobody loves an old whore more than the DL gays!
by Anonymous | reply 22 | September 14, 2024 6:48 PM
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The best performance in this film is given by Dave Bautista.
The worst is Jamie Lee Curtis as some ancient burn victim. They really shouldn’t have encouraged her with that Oscar.
by Anonymous | reply 23 | November 29, 2024 10:43 PM
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The PA troll in the house
by Anonymous | reply 24 | November 29, 2024 10:47 PM
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Here's the trailer. I would love for Pamela to get nominated and not JLC.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 25 | November 29, 2024 10:48 PM
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Sorry girls - Cynthia Erivo (formerly known as Ariana DeBose) is going to sweep the award nominations as well as the awards themselves come 2025. If Erivo doesn't win an Oscar for 'Wicked', there will be hell to pay - and Sunny Hostin will be front and center. If you think Sunny was 'highly perturbed' that Harris lost a few weeks ago, WAIT and see what happens if Erivo loses to a white woman, or (gulp!) doesn't get nominated at all. Mark my words.
by Anonymous | reply 26 | November 29, 2024 10:53 PM
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[quote] Anytime someone says an actor is a 'revelation' - just toss it in the bin.
"A revelation" is the new "incandescent."
by Anonymous | reply 27 | November 29, 2024 10:59 PM
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JLC is too old to be a cocktail waitress. Reno, maybe.
by Anonymous | reply 28 | November 29, 2024 11:00 PM
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It’s like the blew the whole make up budget on JLC so everyone else isn’t wearing any.
I mean, the dye job on JLC is just insulting to marginalised women everywhere.
by Anonymous | reply 29 | November 29, 2024 11:05 PM
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JLC would be a grand Midwestern greasy spoon waitress pushing Sanka.
by Anonymous | reply 30 | November 29, 2024 11:06 PM
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r23, good to hear that about Dave. He's really invested in being an actor, rather than a personality.
by Anonymous | reply 31 | November 29, 2024 11:06 PM
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If that is Dace Bautista’s real hair then all I have to say is: FUCK ME, DAVE BAUTISTA. Also: RAW DOG ME, DAVE BAUTISTA. CUM IN MY HOLE.
And if it isn’t his real hair, I would say: Put the wig on, Dave.
Also, this script is terrible. The Coppolas have it too easy in this industry. Nobody else would’ve got this shit made.
by Anonymous | reply 32 | November 29, 2024 11:08 PM
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OMG. JLC free dancing to Total Eclipse of the Heart looking like ages carrying triplets. This is a terrible film.
This is worse than Megalopolis .
by Anonymous | reply 33 | November 29, 2024 11:14 PM
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Plus I love it when nepo babies like Billie Lourd try to play working glass. Like she’s ever wanted for anything in her life with her dad running CAA.
by Anonymous | reply 36 | November 29, 2024 11:18 PM
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I can see it now....
JLC makes her inevitable appearance on 'The View' just in time to promote herself for an Oscar. Sara, obligingly says: "I'm hearing Oscar buzz for your performance."
Before JLC can answer, Sunny shoots Sara a look and says, "No you're not. That buzz is for Cynthia."
by Anonymous | reply 37 | November 29, 2024 11:18 PM
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And the screenwriter was in her mid-‘30s when she wrote this which why there’s not one authentic, insightful moment in it. It’s just the same scene over and over: sad old people with no hope.
I wonder if all the strings on the soundtrack are in the screenplay.
by Anonymous | reply 38 | November 29, 2024 11:33 PM
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This is just dreadful.
Remember Flashdance? Remember the cliched speech the old dancer gave to Alex, saying she liked the tu tus or something like that?
Nothing in this film approaches the comparatively dramatic power of that speech.
by Anonymous | reply 39 | November 29, 2024 11:40 PM
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Apparently JLC steals the whole movie.
by Anonymous | reply 42 | November 30, 2024 2:05 AM
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It’s more like JLC takes a good portion of the movie hostage.
by Anonymous | reply 44 | December 1, 2024 2:37 PM
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Would see. Can one hope for a subtle nod to Showgirls (1995)?
by Anonymous | reply 45 | December 1, 2024 3:04 PM
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Hadn't really understood this culture in the first place but anyway: AI Overview: No, showgirls are no longer a part of the Las Vegas Strip or any other venue in Las Vegas. The showgirl era ended with the closure of the last remaining showgirl production, Jubilee!, in 2016. However, there are still shows in Las Vegas that feature talented dancers and performers:
by Anonymous | reply 46 | December 1, 2024 3:07 PM
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Apparently is wasn’t in the budget, R45.
If Francis sold one of his vineyards to make Megalopolis, it looks like Gia sold a case of wine to make The Last Showgirl.
by Anonymous | reply 47 | December 1, 2024 5:34 PM
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