Quick synopsis: After the show she’s been headlining for decades is suddenly shut down, Shelly has to decide her next steps; trying for fame, or working in a waitress in a cocktail bar.

I watched The Wrestler recently. First off, great film. Secondly, very thematically similar. REALLY similar. That’s the problem; everything The Last Showgirl does right, other films have done a lot better. Not just “kind of similar at a push”, there are some really specific similarities. The pressures placed on women and how they can be pushed out of certain entertainment roles due to their age, with the lead performer being played by a sex symbol from the 90s? The Substance. Obsession with performance causing you to isolate yourself from your child, while you have a special relationship with someone you work with? The Wrestler. The ethereal shot composition, which makes you feel like you’re watching someone reminiscing while looking at faded Polaroids? Aftersun.

I really wanted to like this. I like Pamela Anderson as a person, and I like how the media now seems to be taking her seriously as a person. The social narrative is now that she was fucked over by popular culture in the 90’s, that she was slut-shamed and judged on a constant basis. She is the best part of this. Her performance is phenomenal. I’m not entirely surprised that she didn’t win an Oscar, but I am surprised she wasn’t at least nominated. The Last Showgirl (TLS, pronounced Tuh-les) is a great showcase for her. This much is obvious from the opening, where we see her audition, and we get to see her nervousness and vulnerability. This is the first time a lot of people would have seen Anderson since her heyday, and it would be shocking to see her so emotionally naked like this.

It’s not just her, the rest of the cast are damn fine. Kiernan Shipka is delightful as always, Brenda Song is superb, and Billie Lourd is perfectly cast. I just wasn’t a fan of what they were given to work with. I’ve watched a lot of 90s sitcoms, so I’m used to arguments between characters being so badly set up that if they were a building, they’d have collapsed quicker than my will to live when I watch Mrs. Browns Boys. But even compared to those, the “split” between characters isn’t set up well. You can almost sense the script pushing characters to act in a certain way so that the plot can move forward.

TLS has a lot to say, and what it has to say, is important. It just feels like it doesn’t know how to say it. I’m not saying it wasn’t a good movie, I’m just saying it wasn’t for me. It left me emotionally cold, and, if I’m being honest, kind of uninterested in what I was seeing.