A One Mann’s Movies review of “The Last Showgirl” (2025).
I went into “The Last Showgirl” with no great expectations but came out pleasantly surprised. This is a well-acted and thoughtful lesson in how old-age can make you automatically redundant in some professions. It’s almost the counterpoint to “The Substance“, the Sci-Fi fantasy where Demi Moore (robbed, I think, at Sunday’s Oscars) gets the chance to fight back against the ravages of old age.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
“The Last Showgirl” Plot:
Shelly (Pamela Anderson) is the longest-serving performer in a decades-old Las Vegas glamour show. Her friends include current showgirls Jodie (Kiernan Shipka) and Mary-Anne (Brenda Song) as well as a past, ‘retired’ showgirl Annette (Jamie Lee Curtis), now scraping her gambling stakes together through cocktail waitressing in a Casino. But when show-director Eddie (Dave Bautista) passes down the news that the ‘Razzle Dazzle’ show is to close, Shelly’s world gets up-ended.
Certification:
UK: 15; US: R. (From the BBFC web site: “Strong language, sex references”.)
Talent:
Starring: Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Bautista, Brenda Song, Kiernan Shipka, Billie Lourd, Linda Montana, Jason Schwartzman.
Directed by: Gia Coppola.
Written by: Kate Gersten.
Running Time: 1h 47m.
“The Last Showgirl” Summary:
Positives:
- Incredible and award-worthy turns from Pamela Anderson and Jamie Lee Curtis.
- Great supporting turns by Dave Bautista and Billie Lourd (as Shelly’s daughter Hannah).
- A really thought-provoking story.
- A tight, compact 88 minutes of storytelling
- A nice soundtrack.
Negatives:
- The ending rather fizzles out. We want to know what happens next!
- Brenda Song seems (or rather looks) a little too young for the role.
Review of “The Last Showgirl”:
Applause for the acting turn.
The name “Pamela Anderson” and the phrase “Acting Awards” haven’t naturally fitted together in the past. But she was nominated for a Golden Globe for this performance and deservedly so. “Pamela Anderson is an actress reborn!” screams the trailer (a quote from the “AU Review”). And she really is!
Shelly is a wonderful character for Anderson to play – ditzy, fiercely loyal to what she sees as her art; and with it quietly dawning on her that that loyalty has acted against her in her failure to evolve. There is so much angst in that face at times with flashes of guilt and despair that are wonderful to watch. Anderson, at 57 years old, still has an incredible body and her flexibility is amazing.
Almost stealing the show though is Jamie Lee Curtis as Annette: a gargoyle of a character; a spray-tanned, brash-talking wonder, living from tip to tip with nothing in the fridge (in fact, no fridge at all).
A poignant story.
The script (by Kate Gersten) positions the key character like “The three ages of Elvis” (if you know that Father Ted episode). You have the relative youngsters, Jodie (Kiernan Shipka) and Mary-Anne (Brenda Song) whose young, sexy bodies can be immediately switched into one of the many soft-porn Vegas shows (although Mary-Anne at 35 is even starting to struggle with even that). Then there’s Shelly, who still thinks she has the talent and the looks but where the industry (represented in a brutal turn by Jason Schwartzman) disagrees; and finally you have Annette, old and bitter that she was replaced by an upcoming bright young thing but still yearning for the glory days.
The script has a neat twist as well, that I didn’t see coming but which makes for a touching moment in the final shots.
And then there’s the daughter.
Also on the scene is Shelly’s daughter Hannah (Billie Lourd). The pair are somewhat estranged with Hannah currently in college in Tucson. This is a terrific turn from Billie Lourd (Carrie Fisher’s daughter) who seethes with resentment about her mother’s absence when growing up.
But what happens next?
When the first end-title card came up, the guy sitting next to me said “well, that ended suddenly”. And he was right, it did. There is an ending of a sort, but it’s one that leaves you wondering (a bit like “Sing Sing“) what Shelly will actually do next and whether she will (or won’t) make a success of her life.
The film could obviously have done more with the story. But, at only 88 minutes long, it’s very neat and compact as it is and I liked that.
Brenda Song casting.
My one other criticism is in relation to Brenda Song’s portrayal of Mary-Anne. Not that Song does a bad job with the role: quite the opposite in fact. But at one point in the script, Shelly has an exchange with Mary-Anne where she berates her for not persuading her to guide her life in a different direction. Now, Brenda Song is 36 years-old. So it seems quite reasonable that she might have known Shelly for some 18 years, enough to make this dialogue make sense. But Song is doing very well for her age and, to me, could have been 10 years younger than that. So in this scene I struggled to relate to why Mary-Anne could have been blamed by Shelly for this. The casting of an actress who LOOKED in her mid-30s might have been better.
Nice soundtrack
I also enjoyed the soundtrack, written by Andrew Wyatt. This includes the song “Beautiful that Way”, composed by Wyatt and sung by Miley Cyrus. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen the trailer too many times, but the song feels like a bit of a classic that has been around for decades. I certainly think, given the lacklustre songs nominated, that this was one that should have made the list and even won. (Giving the Oscar to “El Mal” was, I’m sorry, a complete travesty.)
Summary Thoughts on “The Last Showgirl”
I made a big deal of “The Brutalist” for being an impressive three-and-a-half hour film made by Brady Corbet for less than $10 million. Sean Baker pointedly mentioned in one of his (many!) Oscar acceptance speeches that “Anora” was made for $6 million. Well, “The Last Showgirl” was reportedly brought in by Gia Coppola (granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola) for less than $2 million and filmed on location in Las Vegas in just 18 days, which is mind-blowing. Coppola deserves a lot of praise for delivering a film of this quality for such a small budget. It’s already made $5 million worldwide and will hopefully make more in the coming weeks.
Recommended.
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
Trailer for “The Last Showgirl”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZDs_lLGrTU .
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