Starring: Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Billie Lourd, Dave Bautista and Brenda Song
Distributor: Roadside Attractions
Runtime: 89 mins. Reviewed in Feb 2025
Reviewer: Peter W Sheehan
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This American drama focuses on a middle-aged Las Vegas ‘showgirl’ who faces an uncertain future after the revue she has performed in for 30 years is scheduled to close.
The screenplay for the film was written by Kate Gersten and is based on her play Body of Work. The film was nominated for a Best Actress award at the 2024 Golden Globe Awards. It tells the story of a 57-year-old show-woman, Shelly Gardner (Anderson), who performed for more than three decades in a French-style revue that was mounted in a casino situated on the Las Vegas strip in the US.
The show’s producer, Eddie (Bautista), announces that the revue will close in a fortnight, due to declining ticket sales. Shelly views the replacement show as obscene; and is anxious about the coming end of her career as a dancer. The film won the Special Jury Prize at the San Sebastian international Film Festival in 2024, and the director, Gia Coppola, is the granddaughter of distinguished director, Francis Ford Coppola.
This is a small, intimate movie that is heavily reliant on the performance of Anderson.
The theme of a fading showgirl is never far from centre stage, and Anderson gives it a sad, wistful interpretation that is compelling. However, the movie stops short of carrying its themes to a dramatic conclusion that zeroes in on weighty issues such as human vulnerability, and the encroaching threat of fading glory, both of which are highly relevant to the characters that Anderson and Lee Curtis play.
In the movie, Annette (Lee Curtis) offers a display of talented cynicism as Shelly’s best friend, and she delivers an impressive performance as a retired show-woman, turned casino waitress, who has a gambling problem. In different ways, the actresses illustrate the complexities that aging women face in the entertainment industry.
This is a film with a good musical score that takes up interesting themes. The choice of Las Vegas for the revue opened the way to debate different ways of expressing the American dream, for example, but the opportunity to do that slips by as dramatic moments in the film linger rather than mature.
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