Pamela Anderson’s comeback film praised by critics: “This is her moment to shine”
nme.comPamela Anderson‘s comeback role in Gia Coppola’s drama The Last Showgirl has won warm praise from critics.The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and sees Anderson play Shelley, a dancer who has been in the same show for 30 years and then learns it is closing.
Jamie Lee Curtis also stars as Shelley’s friend Annette, a former showgirl turned cocktail waitress.“I’ve been getting ready my whole life for this role,” Anderson said at the Princess of Wales Theatre following the premiere. “It’s the first time I’ve read a good script, first of all.
I’ve never had a script come to me that was coherent. I was like: ‘I’m the only one that can do this. I’ve never felt that strongly about something’.”While the film’s reviews have been mixed, there’s been particular praise for Anderson’s performance, with some even suggesting it could be Oscar-worthy.“Anderson embodies her character with such genuine feeling.
She finally gets a big, Oscar-bait scene in which she sobs and tears up her costumes. But the low-key devastation she has captured before that is the real acting triumph,” said the BBC.The Hollywood Reporter labelled her performance as a potential “turning point” in the career of an actress who “has had to struggle to be taken seriously”.“If the breathy Marilyn voice and constant, nervous verbal diarrhea wear thin at times, Anderson’s transformative performance is undeniably affecting, offering illuminating insights into both the character and the actress playing her, who has had to struggle to be taken seriously.
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