Format: Streaming video from Hulu+ on various players.
Years ago, I worked with a guy who used to joke that he watched Baywatch for the articles. The joke was that back in the day, it’s what a certain type of guy liked to say about Playboy—you got it for the articles, not the nudity. Baywatch, if you’re too young to remember those heady days of 35 or so years ago, was softcore television porn that featured a lot of slow-motion shots of Pamela Anderson running on the beach. It probably wasn’t too fair to her, but the show made her a sort of cultural punchline, someone desperate to be the new Marilyn Monroe. Well, she’s back, and The Last Showgirl is a clear attempt for respectability.
And let me say this so that I don’t come across as crass: Pamela Anderson deserves that respectability. The problem with the fake-breasted, blonde-haired bubblehead stereotype is that it is a stereotype. Like Marilyn before her (and like Judy Holliday as well), Pam Anderson is a hell of a lot smarter than anyone gave her credit for being. The Last Showgirl feels like something incredibly personal to her, and it shows in every frame.
