The Last Showgirl

Off The Razzle

The Last Showgirl
Directed by Gia Coppola
USA 2024
Picturehouse Entertainment

Once again, one of the famous Coppola clan takes to directing. This is not Gia Coppola’s first movie but, it’s the first one I’ve personally heard of directed by her.

The Last Showgirl is an interesting piece, starring Pamela Anderson as an ageing showgirl dancer for a casino in Las Vegas. Her friend, an ex-performer and cocktail waitress there, is a harridan of a woman with too much make-up and an irresponsible side to her, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, who also does remarkably wel here… although Pam is absolutely the star of this one, in what is possibly her best acting role she’s ever performed. Once again she is pigeon-holed a little into a dumb blonde kind of role but, in this case, one who has a lot of knowledge and interest in her art. But wrestling simultaneously with trying to repair an estranged relationship with her daughter (played by Billy Lourd), looking after some of the other showgirls (to an extent) and struggling, as always, to pay the bills.

Then, one day, their show runner, played by the always incredible David Bautista, breaks the news that the show, Razzle Dazzle, is being ditched after a 38 year run (Pam’s character has been working it there for almost that long) and they have only three weeks to go before their last show and, definitely in the case of Pam’s character Shelly, a future of probable unemployment.

The film starts off strongly with the intro to an audition that Shelly has to put herself through to try and get work, before the opening credits roll and then flashing back to just before the girls hear the news the show is closing and spending almost all of the movie catching up to that devastating audition. And it’s very good. All the actors are top notch including the aforementioned Pamela Anderson (and check out her recent Criterion Closet entry on YouTube if you have a mind to). And, yeah, everyone is just so good in this, somewhat low key set of incidents but, a special shout out to Bautista who really is one of his generation’s best actors. I first realised this in his performance opposite Jodie Foster in Hotel Artemis (reviewed here) and, yeah, what he does with his facial expressions and the way he reigns in his physical presence to make himself seem like a somewhat run down, awkward man is absolutely amazing… and he certainly plays well opposite the main lead.

The photography is great too, with a lot of the visual information in the centre of the shots being in deep focus with the periphery of the frame at the margins kind of blurring somewhat… I’ve seen this photography style used in films before (it’s probably got a very specific name) and it gives everything a nice texture and contrast. And the naturalistic acting styles of the various characters is matched with a constant moving camera, often with lots going in on the shots and the hubbub of the backstage world of the showgirl nicely picked up, pulling the audience in voyeuristically without breaking the spell once it’s got you. In this respect, it reminded me a little of the films of Robert Altman, with his overlapping dialogue and shots packed full of people before, in this case, pulling back to a safer distance and observing the odd character alone in their environment.

I liked some of the scoring by Andrew Wyatt too which, to my mind, sounded somewhat reminiscent of some music at a certain stage in the career of Philip Glass, which certainly doesn’t do the film any harm and underlines some of the melancholic moments without lapsing into full on melodrama (which is a neat support from the music on this one, for sure).

Perhaps my one criticism of the film might be that I felt, somewhat, like it didn’t give any real closure or sense of an ending. It felt like it needed a little more happening towards some kind of resolution… positive or negative… at the end but, surprisingly, a few hours after watching this one, I was plagued by nightmares featuring some of the characters from this film. I must have taken things in more than I thought I had here so, already this film is haunting me a little and I’m surprised it didnt get more of an Oscar nod at this year’s Academy Awards (not that I like awards ceremonies or anything to do with them, to be honest... but I'm glad Anora did well, it's well deserved, read my review of that one here).

So, yeah, The Last Showgirl is a slow moving, thoughtful film with great acting, beautiful cinematography and a somewhat, deliberately muffled style to it, I thought. I really liked this one and you might want to take a look at it, if you are of a certain mindset.