The Last Showgirl
PRAISE: I've been to Las Vegas many times,and I've definitely crossed paths with people like the characters in this film. The cocktail waitress with the nice smile handing me drinks as I sat at a slot machine, or shimmering Showgirl dancing around on a stage. I've also seen how Vegas is changing seemingly every day as a Casino is torn down and a decades long Vegas show suddenly shuts down. I liked how i went through the aforementioned with the characters particularly Showgirl Shelly (Pamela Anderson) and casino waitress Annette (Jamie Lee Curtis)both actresses give very strong performances. Shelly chafes at what being a showgirl has become. She basically feels what she's been doing for many years is classy like Playboy magazine not leaning into the raunchy like some current performance spaces are demanding. I really enjoyed the slow reveal of her characters personality, from time of being ultra irresponsible, her disconnect from people, particularly and especially with her daughter Hannah (Billy Lourd) Anderson and Lourd are great in a gut punch of emotions scene together. It's also how Shelly chose to do certain things in her life that lead to some eye opening moments. The rest of the cast including Brenda Song ,Jodie Kiernan Shipka, and Dave Bautista have some good soulful moments.
PROBLEMS: Definitely some predictable moments. I knew a scene of the reality of Shelly's career reaching its end game was coming even though it had some nice raw emotion to it. As a whole I thought the movie would be a bit more solid with more to take in but at times it felt like I was just getting glimpses of characters. The movie reminded me of 2008's The Wrestler but it was far more compelling than this film.
Scale of 1 to 10 a 7½