The Last Showgirl

Pamela Anderson delivers the performance of a lifetime in Gia Coppola’s shimmering social-realist take on the shattered American dream in Sin City.

In the 1980s, The Las Vegas Showgirls were seen as movie stars in America’s most sinful city. Drenched in feathers and sequins, they embodied elegance and grace—or at least that’s how Shelley sees it. She has been the centerpiece of the dance show Razzle Dazzle since its glory days and takes great pride in her life as a dancer, while also serving as a maternal figure to the young women in the ensemble. But when news arrives that the show will be replaced by a burlesque circus, Shelley’s world comes crashing down. Who is she if she’s no longer a Showgirl? Surrounded by a wonderful cast of actors—including Jamie Lee Curtis as a delightfully bitter confidante—Pamela Anderson makes a great comeback as Shelley, a woman who has sacrificed both her daughter and love for the seductive yet treacherous spotlight of Las Vegas.

• Annie Karlsson