Pamela Anderson "might owe her fame to the 1990s TV behemoth 'Baywatch'", and her turbulent love life, but she may end up being remembered for projects such as this watchable drama, said Brian Viner in the Daily Mail. In "The Last Showgirl", the former model is "perfectly cast" as Shelly, a veteran dancer in "a vaguely 'erotic' Parisian-style revue" that has run for 38 years in a Las Vegas casino.
The show has become an anachronism, however, and one night, its manager (Dave Bautista) gathers his troupe to announce that it is closing. Made "for peanuts" by Gia Coppola, granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola, the film is low key and melancholic in mood, and sustained by Anderson's remarkably "fine, empathetic" performance.
"The Last Showgirl" was snubbed at this year's Oscars, said Matthew Bond in The Mail on Sunday, which is a pity as it's both "good and quietly touching". On one level, it's about "the end of a Las Vegas era, an age of long-legged showgirls and sparkling headdresses". But it has "deeper" things to say too, about "ageing, dreams and female relationships".
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I'm afraid I found it unbearably "trite", said Kevin Maher in The Times. Far too reliant on "mood music, sunrise strolls and slow-mo shots" of Anderson "looking pensive", it's a "nominally feminist movie about the objectification and exploitation of women" that insists on presenting Shelly's old-school strip act as art. As for Shelly herself, she is a "hollow", flimsy creation; Anderson is left "with only cartoon squeaks and wide-eyed reaction shots, like a parody of Marilyn Monroe's Sugar from 'Some Like It Hot'".
I thought her performance was "transfixing", but the rest of the film is decidedly lacklustre, said Deborah Ross in The Spectator. Particularly irritating is the way it's shot, "in a hand-held, kinetic style" that never settles: I began to long for the camera to stay put for a minute.
