THE LAST SHOWGIRL

A once famous Las Vegas showgirls show from yesteryear, The Razzle Dazzle, is coming to its conclusion after decades of being a main attraction. We follow Shelly (Pamela Anderson), once the main star of the show who is now currently pushing almost 60 and dancing with women who are about a third of her age. She doesn't seemed too concerned about her next move at this stage in her life due to her disappointment with the show ending. The finality of this makes her reexamine some of her life choices and even tries to reconnect with her estranged daughter Hannah (Billie Lourd). Going into this I'd heard positive things and even some whispers of award nominations for Pamela. I would respectfully disagree as enjoyable as her performance is, I wasn't sold on the fact it was THAT good. There's a lot of themes at play here such as ageism and how we discard our elders once we feel they no longer have value or purpose. Choosing between having a successful (or what will make us happier) career vs family, sexism to an extent, and old vs new. A well deserved shout out goes to Dave Bautista for his dramatic turn as Eddie, the manager of the soon to be discontinued show. Bautista really shows his range here and I'd most definitely welcome more roles like this. Surprisingly, the rest of the cast is filled out by the likes of both Kiernan Shipka and Jamie Lee Curtis, who actually gives a wonderful performance herself in the limited time she's afforded as Shelly's best friend who's an aging cocktail waitress and is experiencing some of the issues Shelly is herself. Overall, it's a satisfying film that didn't live up to some of the expectations I had heading in. 6/10