Pamela Anderson is probably always going to be known for playing lifeguard C.J. Parker for five seasons on Baywatch during the ’90s. The images of Anderson in Baywatch‘s famous red swimwear are also what helped her became an icon.
That’s been both a curse and a blessing for Anderson, who never fully shed her reputation for being a sex symbol. It’s also what made Anderson the perfect choice to take the lead in Gia Coppola‘s The Last Showgirl.
There are also some unmistakable parallels between Anderson and her character, Shelly Gardner, as she faces the end of the long-running revue that defined her career.
The Last Showgirl didn’t get a lot of love during the awards season earlier this year, but that should change now that the film is available to stream. It’s Watch With Us‘ pick for the one Hulu movie that you have to watch in May 2025.
Pamela Anderson Gives the Performance of Her Life
Most of the roles Anderson played early in her career revolved around her physical attributes rather than the intangibles that she offers as a performer. If you ever had any doubts about her talent, Anderson dispels them in The Last Showgirl with by far the best performance she’s ever given. For three decades, Shelly (Anderson) was one of the leading showgirls in a Las Vegas show called Le Razzle Dazzle. Once Shelly learns the show is ending, she has no backup plan, and her future suddenly becomes very frightening to her.
Anderson is very relatable as she conveys Shelly’s fear of a life without the thing that defined her. But that isn’t the full extent of Anderson’s range in the film. Shelly is also seen in her lowest moments feeling despair and anger. To cope with the loss of a career that defined her identity, she’s engaged in a certain amount of wishful thinking that doesn’t reflect the reality of her situation. Shelly seems broken, but that only makes Anderson’s performance more compelling.
The Supporting Cast Helps Carry the Weight of the Story
Anderson does a lot of the heavy lifting with her performance, but she doesn’t carry the film alone. Coppola surrounded her with a veteran cast that includes Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Bautista and Kiernan Shipka. Curtis plays a character named Annette who has fallen even further than Shelly. Annette was kicked out of the revue years earlier over her age, and she barely gets by as a cocktail waitress while battling a gambling addiction. She’s a cautionary tale for Shelly about what the next chapter of her life may hold for her.
Bautista embraces his dramatic side with his character, Eddie, a man who has largely escaped the consequences of his choices. His connection with Shelly is revealed in the film, but she’s also deeply resentful that Eddie gets to keep his job with the new revue while she’s essentially being cut loose. Bautista strikes the right balance of showing some sympathy towards Shelly, a desire to remain friends with her and harboring some anger over the personal issues that link them together.
The Last Showgirl Isn’t Afraid to Show Shelly’s Flaws
Perhaps it’s a good thing that Hulu waited until after Mother’s Day to drop The Last Showgirl, because Shelly’s greatest failing is as a mother and a surrogate mother. Billie Lourd — the daughter of Hollywood legend Carrie Fisher — was an inspired choice to play Shelly’s daughter, Hannah Gardner. Hannah’s relationship with her mother is very strained in the movie, because she feels that Shelly always loved the show more than her own child. And she’s not wrong.
Shipka and Brenda Song play two of the younger showgirls, Jodie and Mary-Anne, who regard Shelly as a mother figure. And she constantly lets them down even after they lend her moral support. There are also scenes in the movie where Shelly treats the two younger women so poorly that it risks turning the audience against her.
The film is ultimately better because it embraces Shelly’s character flaws. She’s perfectly imperfect as a mom, mentor and friend, and Anderson commands the screen when she gets to show off Shelly’s darker impulses.
The Last Showgirl is now streaming on Hulu.
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