Film: The Last Showgirl [2024] – Pamela Anderson, Dave Bautista on Crave Canada

The Last Showgirl is a powerful examination of everyone’s desire to forge their own path and to be recognized as valuable. Shelly is Pamela Anderson. It’s who she always was and what she always wanted to showcase. Now, the spotlight is hers, and hers only.

Starring Pamela Anderson, Brenda Song, Jamie Lee Curtis, and others, this is a film about growing old, chasing your dreams, and being belittled for it.

Yes, the script is not perfect. Not at all, but the actors don’t seem to care. The most notable thing is the amazing performances, from Anderson to Dave Bautista. The bumpier elements of the script don’t seem to bother them. Anderson plows forward with significant effort and insight. Despite this film’s problems, there’s little denying its melancholy power.

In its best moments, the film is a powerful examination of everyone’s desire to forge their own path and to be recognized as valuable. We’re talented, we’re pretty, we deserve good things, even when our close family says otherwise. And that’s a powerful message for a film about a Vegas showgirl.

As someone who’s turning 39 this year, this film touches all the insecurities I had about growing older, the fear of missing out, the fear of “not being enough”. I never thought a film would be able to do that to me. All I can say is: Welcome back, Pamela Anderson. This time, more on your own terms.

Should You Watch It?

This is a film whose conventional script would hardly have found a place at major festivals were it not for Anderson’s presence. A vulnerable performance that holds everything together, and more.

Where Can I Watch It?

The Last Showgirl is streaming on Crave in Canada.