Veteran showgirl Shelly (Pamela Anderson) has been the face of rhinestones-and-feathers revue "Le Razzle Dazzle" for thirty years, building a family and life for herself on the Las Vegas strip, but audiences crave novelty above all else and now ticket sales are on the decline. Shelly, along with younger co-stars who view her as a mother figure, is devastated to learn that the old-school show will be replaced with a raunchy neo-burlesque extravaganza. Her life is further disrupted by the sudden appearance of estranged daughter Hannah (Billie Lourd), who resents Shelly for the years she was focused on her career instead of motherhood, ongoing entanglements with her stage manager Eddie (Dave Bautista) and the chaotic needs of her best friend/former co-star Annette (Jamie Lee Curtis). As Shelly struggles to face having to reinvent herself in mid-life, her grasp on reality begins to slip and the fragile balance of her world crumbles.

Pamela Anderson's agent initially turned down this role on her behalf without consulting her, leaving director Gia Coppola (yes one of them) no choice but to pass the script to her through a complex network of friends-of-friends— we say no choice because it's impossible to picture any actor better suited to this role. Anderson is absolutely mesmerising in a fully embodied performance of a woman so far out of her own time she may never find her way fully into ours, one with a seething anger at the objectification she endures bubbling just under her bright, beautiful exterior. Shelly (and Anderson's) rage gives The Last Showgirl a powerful resonance, as does its poignant reflection on life's choices and compromises.