THE LAST SHOWGIRL Review: When the Dazzle Starts to Fade

Las Vegas might be something of an artificial city, but the people who the living and working (and dying) in it, day to day, are not. Like other big cities, there are people there with dreams, which more often than not, go unfulfilled. Or even if they are fulfilled, in some smaller way, the dream must end, sometimes sooner than one might want, leaving many adrift.

The Last Showgirl is a quietly poignant story of one such person, who finds herself unmoored and having to reevaluate the choices that lead her to a seemingly comfortable but ultimately precarious existence. Gia Coppola’s feature is arguably her best to date, where she combines the glitz and glamour she loves about that desert city, with the real life of a working woman who helps make that glitz. It’s also a long-overdue showcase of Pamela’s Anderson’s neglected talent.

When most of us think of the Las Vegas shows of dancing women, likely we think of large feathered headdresses, rhinestones and sparkles, and perhaps some tasteful nudity. That’s the Razzle Dazzle show, which Shelley (Anderson) has been a part of for thirty years. Le centrepiece of the show, she’s the veteran who knows it inside out, and has become something of a den mother to the younger dancers such as Jodie (Kiernan Shipka) and Mary-Anne (Brenda Song). Her best friend Annette (Jamie Lee Curtis) is a former dancer, now aging cocktail waitress, who seems a lot more bitter about the dancing world she left, a world that Shelley has no desire to leave, because this is her world.

That world is about to end, as they are informed by the manager Eddie (Dave Bautista), the new owners are no longer interested in classic Las Vegas. Being young and ambitious, Jodie and Mary-Anne can start looking for other work. But for Shelley, this has been her work for 30 years; she hasn’t auditioned in that time, and even though this seems a steady job, it’s still a working class life. We learn that she gave up a lot, including a more ‘traditional’ role of motherhood to her now-grown daughter Hannah (Billie Lourd).

Coppola, working from screenwriter Kate Gersten’s terrific naturalistic text, takes good time and care to make Shelley’s world whole and believable; she found a niche for herself, a good friend to share times with, and a world that she carved out of hard work, and yes, sometimes neglect. Perhaps she lacked in the kind of ambition that we expect from artists, but she found a job she loved, one that she was good at that made her feel beautiful and wanted. But now, as she still has to work to live, and her only talent is one that those in power have no interest on a woman her age, she has to figure out how to live without that security.

There is no hint of disdain or ridicule for these working class people, who do indeed make Las Vegas what it is. We are shown this in the small moment of care and attention that Annette gives a long-time regular at the casino; but even as a waitress, she’s a victim of ageism, and the lure of gambling doesn’t just harm those who come to the city for a quick thrill. Coppola shows how a found family is born from the need for care and love, and even those bounds can fray at bad moments.

Anderson has long been shunted into the ‘ditzy blonde’ category, but it does feel as if this role was written for her. Her Shelley is maybe a little ditzy, but there is no denying her heart. She is kind of warm, she lovers her job and, at least until now, she thought she was happy to give up her daughter and a steady relationship for this other kind of steady work, that made her feel complete. As this anchor in her life sinks, and Shelley is set adrift, Anderson slowly peel back the layers to show Shelley’s vulnerability, her regret, her anger at herself and her concern for her future.

Coppola and cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw capture a different side of Las Vegas; if we see one side of working Vegas in the television show Hacks, we see another in this film. The side of those who don’t have a million dollar mansion, who perhaps are always looking in from the outside. As Shelley contemplates her future, she wanders just outside the hotels, just outside the strip, as if knowing the only way that she is allowed to enter is in her Razzle Dazzle glamour. But this is still her town, and she is one of those lights, even if her time is coming to an end.

The Last Showgirl is the kind of starry-eyed view of a place when that place has lost something of its shine; it's focused on the people who make it shine, and what they do when they're no longer wanted. But these people still have so much value, and love and talent to give, even if a place like Las Vegas often makes the choice difficult. Centred on a fantastic performance by Anderson, a great script, this is a tribute to those who are determined to keep magic and love alive.

The Last Showgirl opens on Friday January 10th in the USA, and Friday January 17th in Canada.