entertainers true entertainers the ones that command the stage with sheer force of will have long been a Dying Breed especially in Las Vegas as the town has become a debauched Disneyland there's less emphasis on Show Business and more on merchandise celebrity and excess Pamela Anderson Shelly is facing this slow death headon in the last show girl when her long running Vegas show L razzled Dazzle is set to close and she sent into to an existential crisis lar razzled Dazzle is the last of its era the kind of show where the women wear elaborate sequin costumes be jeweled to the heavens Shelly is the longest serving member of the show a mentor of sorts to its younger dancers including two played by Kieran shipka and Brenda Song jaim Lee Curtis stars as a nette a former lar Razzle Dazzle showgirl turned Casino cocktail waitress a reminder of what shell is on the brink of as the show closes Pamela Anderson gives the performance of her career in the last show girl Lil razzled Dazzle is Shell's life so much so that her estrange daughter Hannah went to live with a family friend when she was younger her mother incapable of handling raising a daughter and starring in a hot Vegas show it slowly becomes clear though that the L razzled Dazzle Shelly believes in is something that only exists in her head like her entire life it's now of a bygone era Shell's woodpanel home is distinctly 80s she still uses a portable cassette player and watches old showgirl performances on a projector in her Gody living room dancing along with them Shelly oozes Vegas but when she's faced with what Vegas is now she's reticent to accept it what Vegas is now is explored through shipka and song's characters when the former auditions for a new show that advertises itself as a heed inous Paradise she shows Shelly the audition routine Anderson's character is appalled at the overtly sexual nature of it decrying it as below her and her fellow performers but when her daughter sees Lou razzled Dazzle for the first time she confronts Shelly about the show being just as provocative as everything else in Vegas still shelle and sis Lou razzled Dazzle is different it's classy it's not like the girls now who grind on chairs and slap their asses the dancing Shelly knows is an art one that has perfected over decades she can't face the truth that not only has Vegas morphed into something new but that she actively played a role in its Evolution for better and worse as this truth Dawns on her it's heartbreaking to watch Anderson's character reckon with the life she chose for herself even as she remains steadfast in her love of The Craft as Shelly reexamines her life we see her attempt to reconnect with her daughter and figure out what her role in Lou razzled Dazzle really me means to her after all these years that meaning May lie partially in Hannah played delicately by Lord who is studying to be a photographer when she tells Shelly who she calls by her first name that her adoptive mother insists she be a graphic designer instead Shelly pushes back on this it's easier to follow your dreams she says than to do something you hate every day shell doesn't want to do something she hates every day she wants to dance throughout the last show girl director Gia Copa shows Shelly in empty parts of Vegas smoking cigarettes or spinning around to music we can't hear the daylight is muted the neon losing its luster when she's not shooting the Vegas Skyline from afar Copa hones in on the faces of her actors as they watch the world around them transform in shapes they don't recognize each actor brings something special to the film Dave Bautista is subtly affecting as Shell's ex also Hannah father while Curtis is fearless and hysterical as Annette it's the relationship between Shelly and shipka and song's characters that hits the hardest though despite serving as a mother figure to them it's a transient role one that shifts between them at one point Shelly is incapable of being there for shipka's character at another songs must intervene when Shelly is at her lowest shell pushes those who love her away contrasted against her relationship with Hannah which she so desperately wants to work it's clear Shelly is still learning how to take of herself before anyone else the last show girl isn't perfect it's melodramatic by Design and it wears its heart on its sleeve but Anderson's raw and unfiltered performance one clearly tailor made for her makes up for the film's weaker elements as does The Chemistry Between the cast it's a crowning moment for Anderson deservedly so and an Ode to the of overlooked Showbiz workers that keeps City running thanks for watching