de facto film reviews 3 stars

The Last Showgirl, the new film from director Gia Coppola, is a-mostly-understated drama about the late in life changes for a Las Vegas showgirl. Pamela Anderson is-almost-revelatory as Shelly, who has been in the same show for over three decades and is in her fifties. Not so late for a person, but “ancient” in terms of a business that, as one character says, “damn nears asks you in your audition if you turned 18 just yesterday.”

Shelly has a group of co-workers that she is seemingly close to, but who, over the course of the film, we discover isa much more complex set of circumstances. The film allows us to understand this through both dialogue and action. It is also a film that does not ask you to believe the protagonist is a “good” person. Instead, it asks you to follow the story and understand what she is about. In that sense, the film only partially works, because while we get some idea of Shelly, we also fail to really grasp what motivates her.

The other characters seem to exist mainly to bring out her fault lines, and while it serves a narrative function, it also works to keep us from getting to know them, or care about them, other than in relation to Shelly. In a sense, this may reflect the “star” idea of a Vegas show, such as the one being closed down. A show where the star is adored and nothing really connects them to others, or others to them. We see, through the film, that this is a very self-centered and immature person who not only has never grown up but is unwilling to accept reality at all.

Last Showgirl'

Courtesy Roadside Attraction

The cast here is absolutely on the top of their game, with Jamie Lee Curtis providing another of her terrific character turns as an angry, washed-up former showgirl, and Kiernan Shipka washing off the stink of The Chilling Adventures Sabrina with a turn that is unlike anything else, revealing a vulnerability she has not shown since her best episodes of Mad Men. It is Dave Bautista, though, as the producer and lighting director of the show, who is the emotional center of the film and the member of the supporting cast who most fully embodies their role. In a single scene, you can buy his Eddie having a long and very personal history with Shelly.

This is a film where the cast is the only thing saving it from becoming completely pedestrian. For a film that has the opportunity to say something special about age, womanhood and choice, it is a film that does not dig deep enough, though it does not shy away from allowing the characters to be damaged and imperfect. This is a saving grace of the screenplay, but it is also down to the actors, who imbue these people with a real sense of having lived their lives. You can tell, from the way they “read” one another, that these people have history together, and not all of it good.

The Vegas scenery is about what you would expect, and there are the traditional sequences of characters dancing against a sunset or a parking lot with the lights of the city twinkling in the distance. These moments should not be held against the film. The film is very well made and obviously crafted with good intentions and care, but it does not fulfill the promise of its ambitions. It skirts greatness instead of embracing it, a fact which reflects the main character’s self-delusions. If this sounds like a “take a pass” review, it most definitely is not. Come for the cast and stay for the acting. Who knew Anderson and Bautista could accomplish this?

THE LAST SHOWGIRL is now playing in limited theaters. It opens in Metro Detroit cinemas on Friday, January 10th.