‘The Last Showgirl’ is a Raw, Unflinching Look at a Sunsetting Vegas Career

The Last Showgirl

★ ★ ★ ★

‘The Last Showgirl’ stars Pamela Anderson as Shelly, a dancer in Las Vegas who’s had a 38 year career in the permanent review show, ‘Le Razzle Dazzle.’ It’s an old school Vegas showgirl extravaganza that Shelly takes pride in. She often refers to its French roots. Shelly fancies herself an artist even when those around her don’t quite see her that way.

Shelly’s life consists of her career, friends and colleagues: fellow dancers Mary Anne (Brenda Song) and Jodie (Kiernan Shipka), producer Eddie (Dave Bautista) and former dancer-turned-cocktail-waitress Annette (Jamie Lee Curtis). We learn from Eddie that Le Razzle Dazzle’s last performance will be in two weeks, because the new hotel and casino owners feel something more modern and fresh should replace it.

Pamela Anderson as Shelly preparing for a show
© 2025 Roadside Attactions

This leads to a great deal of introspection with Shelly and her friends as they contemplate their careers with the show and what’s next for them. Most of the story is based on this dilemma. It’s a character study that explores Shelly from the inside out as she faces the eclipse of her show.

Meanwhile, she tries to reconnect with her estranged adult daughter Hannah (Billie Lourd), who has significant, and very valid, misgivings about Shelly’s devotion to her career and how it affected her childhood. Hanna feels that Shelly’s focus on her career caused her to make extremely questionable parenting choices that left her with childhood scars.

Pamela Anderson as Shelly on the Vegas strip
© 2025 Roadside Attactions

Shelly and Hanna’s relationship is one of the most important in the story, and to the film’s credit, does not let the characters off the hook. It forces them to work through their pain and it plays out beautifully on screen.

This is Pamela Anderson as you’ve never seen her. She’s physically and emotionally raw and visceral, likely tapping into some of her own career revelations. Anderson is incredibly convincing and delivers a command performance. This movie wouldn’t work without her.

Pamela Anderson as Shelly
© 2025 Roadside Attactions

The film is directed by up-and-coming Gia Coppola, who is the granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola and niece of Sofia Coppola. Her instincts are right on the money, giving us what feels like a real-life introspection of a Las Vegas dancer at the end of her career.

Simply put, ‘The Last Showgirl’ is a very well done dramatic character study, and Anderson’s performance hits the jackpot.