On the surface, Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl is a gloomy, glitzy tale about a Las Vegas dancer who doesn’t quite know what to do after she gets the news that her show is closing. Underneath, it’s a story about motherhood and the sacrifices we make in order to live out our biggest and wildest dreams. I spent the last 45 minutes of the movie crying – and then I called my mom after.
The film, which is somehow only Gia Coppola’s third feature, stars Pamela Anderson as Shelly, a showgirl who has been performing in the same show, Le Razzle Dazzle, for three decades. Shelly loves the show, and, at 57, has no intention of retiring. Sometime after Shelly learns that the show is coming to an end, we learn that she has an estranged daughter named Hannah (Billie Lourd) – and, to me, this is the true core of the film.
