OBSERVER: Rourke’s Reviews
The Last Showgirl
(MA). 85 minutes. Opens in selected cinemas February 20.
Much has been made of 80’s bombshell icon Pamela Anderson’s comeback role, but unfortunately the film doesn’t come close to matching the hype, an empty feature that gives its star very little to do.
Anderson stars as Shelly, a legendary Vegas showgirl who has been part of a long-running, hugely successful show called Razzle Dazzle.
As audience demands change, wanting more explicit stage acts, the production’s ticket sales have dropped in recent years.
After three decades, the organisers decide to end the show in two weeks.
This sudden decision puts Shelly into crisis mode, as she has known nothing else, and now being in her fifties, wonders if she’ll be able to find another job in the industry. Shelly is seen as a mother-type figure to much younger dancers Jodie (Kiernan Shipka) and Mary-Anne (Brenda Song), who are far more at ease with the decision, as given their age, they’ll be able to move on to other shows.
Behind the scenes is Eddie (Dave Bautista), who genuinely cares about the dancers, and is the one to break the bad news to them. Also in Shelly’s life is longtime friend, ex-dancer, now casino barmaid Annette (Jamie Lee Curtis), and estranged daughter Hannah (Billie Lourd), who has just finished university and has arrived on the scene out of curiosity, to see if what her mother does was worth ignoring her child’s needs.
For anyone who has seen Darren Aronofsky’s superb 2008 drama The Wrestler, they will find many similarities with the material here, but while writer Robert Siegel and the director took the time to build its world and, more importantly, characters, Kate Gersten’s script is the exact opposite, offering next-to-no detail or insight (which is made even more apparent with its scant, 85 minute running time).
Director Gia Coppola (granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola) seems to be trying to imitate an independent film rather than actually creating a low-key, intimate portrait of someone trying to figure out what to do later in their life.
Not helping is some truly awful cinematography, too often feeling like a parody of the infamous Dogma movies.
The cast try hard, but find it difficult rising above the one-dimensional script and superficial direction.
Anderson is okay, while Curtis delivers her second misjudged performance in recent times (after Borderlands), and Bautista is acceptable in an understated turn.
Faring best is Shipka (Longlegs, The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina), bringing some emotion to a film that is in desperate need of it.
The Last Showgirl is a huge disappointment, as everything was there to create a poignant, critical drama, but the actual result is hollow and forgettable, seeing an actor not given a chance to truly prove what she can do.
Watch the Netflix documentary Pamela, A Love Story instead.
RATING – **
Heart Eyes
(MA). 97 minutes. Now showing in cinemas.
The latest horror/comedy to ride on the coattails of the long-running Scream franchise, Heart Eyes is an intermittently amusing, but overall frustrating entry in this sub-genre, running out of steam before the end credits roll.
Olivia Holt plays Ally, who works for a popular advertising agency, and looks like she is about to get fired after creating a misfired ad campaign, using doomed lovers to sell jewellery.
Freelance ad genius Jay (Mason Gooding) is brought in to fix the problem, and although there seems to be friction between the two, the immediate chemistry is obvious.
This romantic scenario plays out against a slasher story, as a masked serial killer known as Heart Eyes is slaughtering couples every Valentine’s Day.
With police on the case, Ally and Jay find out that they have attracted the attention of the mysterious psycho, and have to team up to survive the onslaught.
Director Josh Ruben, who helmed the fun Werewolves Within and the superior Scare Me, does his best to blend romantic comedy and gory horror, but is undermined by a clumsy, obvious script, co-written by Christopher Landon, who made the equally frustrating Happy Death Day movies and Freaky. What keeps one mildly interested are the two leads, who deliver likeable performances, and it definitely helps as the film’s energy level sputters in the latter stages, especially during its flat finale. While watchable enough and certainly slick, Heart Eyes never becomes the truly fun film it could have, and could have been the slasher equivalent Shaun Of The Dead.
RATING – **½
Aaron Rourke