The Last Showgirl

[SocksAndTheCity]

This came out today, although I saw it a couple of weeks ago with Pamela Anderson doing a Q&A (and she is unreasonably gorgeous, as expected).

It's slight (possibly because it's 85 minutes and we've had weeks and months of sitting through 2hr+ films), but I really enjoyed it; Jamie Lee Curtis is fantastic and the relationships between all the women including her estranged daughter (played by Billie Lourd who is Carrie Fisher's daughter) are lovely.

Las Vegas looks faded and shabby but in a wistful, gentle way; apparently some of the showgirl costumes are vintage ones that had been worn on stage there years ago. I'll likely see it again once the Oscar stuff has calmed down

Seen it and really enjoyed it. I didn’t realise until the opening credits that it was by Gia Coppola (niece of Sofia) but thought it showed influences of her work in the directorial style (which I’m sure she’d hate to hear, because she would no doubt want it to be her own unique style!). Thought Pammy was great and agree that all of the female friendships felt authentic. Also that Jamie Lee was just brilliant. Such a lack of vanity - I loved her in this and wanted her to be my friend.

Would recommend.

I’ve just come from this and loved it. PA was so great in this, so vulnerable and relatable in many ways. I think she should have been nominated for an Oscar. Agreed all the cast were great and JLC was fab.

I've just seen it and loved it. I got very invested and felt a bit cheated when it came to (I thought) rather a sudden end. But I guess that supports the whole "what next?" nature of the film.

Pamela Anderson was excellent; wistful, fragile, ballsy in equal measure. Jamie Lee Curtis was also excellent. Her dance scene made me feel sad and embarrassed and then angry at myself for feeling that way!

I'm early 50s and totally relate to that sense of invisibility.

I thought it was beautiful. It was short in comparison with a lot of recent films but it was so well written and edited. You got a real insight into the characters lives and relationships. I felt the same as @ConstantlyFuriosa I'd also like JLC to come and be my friend.

I would also like JLC to be my friend 😀

I've just came back from seeing it, I thought it was very poignant and JLC and PA were fantastic. However, I had to listen rather than watch for much of it due to the camera work triggering motion sickness! I felt ill and was physically sick when I came out, another thing that's got worse with age, which felt particularly relevant given the message of the film.

Yes, I found the camera work a bit distracting to start with and I wasn't sure what it was bringing. But luckily not to the point of motion sickness.

I liked it a lot. I was hoping for a bit more to the storyline, but I suppose it was like life, really, no neat endings.

Thought Pamela was great and like someone said above - the lack of vanity for JLC. Great to see some women's stories on screen.

Jamie Lee was incredible.
she was also incredible in the bear.

on a surface level in the moment I liked it for several of the reasons you mentioned but as the credits rolled I just thought “it’s not just not plausible” on two main points

• Shelly isn’t a believable character. After 30+ years in Las Vegas there’s no way short of special needs she is naive and innocent to still truly think “she’s a daaaancer” a la Nicole Kidman in the Chanel ad and it’s some higher form of art 🙄
• no one who has strained parental relationships gets the Hollywood ending (.ie the parent has an epiphany and actually realise they were awful and their behaviour wasn’t justified)

I commented on this to my friend our parents were difficult (alcoholism etc) and she agreed Hollywood endings of bad parents realising they are bad sucks because it just isn’t what happens irl and you watch these movies thinking… “one day that might be my dad” … it’s not. It never will be.

I thought the cinematography was interesting but distracting at times and liked billie character and Kieran shipka’s characters a lot though.
JLC was hands down the best thing in it.

PA's character didn't really apologise to her daughter. She sort of justified her behaviour, but she wasn't sorry she stayed working as a showgirl. I don't think it was a Hollywood ending. I thought her daughter was there to be kind, not because she suddenly thought PA was a wonderful mother.
I think PA was meant to be incredibly naive and totally in denial. The bits where she was watching dance movies on her cinema screen made her seem very childlike.

So the club owner was her daughters father ? Who had nothing to do with her then criticised her mother for working? I got his point because she obviously wasn't great but where was he ?

He wasn't the owner, he was the lighting engineer or something like that. But he was that father. I thought the fact that he got away without supporting his child was another way of showing how naive PA was.

I enjoyed the way this film was made, the faded glamour etc but felt the role was beyond PA's acting abilities. Someone with more range could have made this a classic, JLC acted her off the screen.

I'm not sure if the scene where the dd with him was in the audience wasn't in her imagination tbh?

I think she had to hold onto the idea of the show being worthwhile in order to live with her choices. Definitely tons of denial, not sure about naivety. 🙂

I thought that her daughter was in her imagination when she was backstage. But then I thought DB probably would have sat to watch her last performance. You could be right.

Saw this last night. Was a bit disappointed. Could have done with a better storyline running alongside. There really wasn’t anything to it. Was rather poignant from a woman’s oerspective as I’m in my 50s but could have gone so much deeper. Was hoping g to see more of the glamorous show too!

Great to see older women being their age ( albeit with fake breasts) and we need to see more of this on our screens.

I loved it. The cinematography was fantastic - the shots in slanting light with long shadows gave Las Vegas a wistful retro look even though it was present day. I 'm going to see the Led Zep documentary today - bit of a contrast

I'm glad I read this thread, it's made me want to go and see the film. Just checked my local cinema and it's on tomorrow 😊

There’s no real story so lower your expectations .

Totally agree about the Oscar.

I thought PA and JLC were both outstanding.

I thought it was sad, poignant, and showed very well the faded glamour nature of both Vegas and the two women trying to make a living.