Pamela Anderson and Las Vegas take center stage with The Last Showgirl. Avoiding the salacious tackiness of cult favorite Showgirls from 1995, writer Kate Gersten focuses on the character and habits of a woman who feels pride in the work of what she calls “ambassadors of style.” But those iconic American showgirls of decades past find it hard to deal with aging and changing times that replace statuesque moves and fancy feather headdresses with pelvis grinding sexuality. Director Gia Coppola uses a handheld camera and real-life settings that achieve a natural and sometimes static feel for the project, capturing believable portraits of people on the margins, living paycheck to paycheck without much protection. Catching parts of Vegas that tourists might miss, Coppola gets a good sense of place, but her main calling card comes with the casting of Pamela Anderson and Jamie Lee Curtis. A celebrity for many reasons including stints as a Playboy model and bouncing moves on Baywatch, Anderson totally suits the role, which earned her a lead acting nomination from the Golden Globes. By industry standards, she gets points for bravery, letting age show as she removes make up. Similarly, Curtis lets it hang with her take as a former showgirl whose gambling habit prevents any upward mobility. Lacking warm and fuzzy qualities, the characters generate empathy through their naivete, while the film gets its credibility for facing the reality of a world where sparkling costumes dim from chips and dust of a difficult lifestyle.
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