The Last Showgirl (M18)

88 minutes, opens exclusively at The Projector on March 13 ★★★☆☆

The story: Pamela Anderson headlines this American indie as a seasoned showgirl confronting an uncertain future when her burlesque – the last of its kind on the Las Vegas Strip – closes after a 30-year run.

Canadian starlet Anderson was, during the 1990s, famously a Playboy magazine centrefold and the bombshell of television’s Baywatch (1992 to 1997).

Shelly in The Last Showgirl is the actress’ first dramatic feature lead. This ageing dancer has dedicated her life to the obsolete topless revue, abandoning even her daughter (Billie Lourd), whom she yearns belatedly to reconnect with. She finds her worth in the razzle-dazzle of feathers and rhinestones and is now lost.

Dave Bautista plays her smitten stage manager and Jamie Lee Curtis her cocktail waitress best friend. Both these actors bring their own loaded history into an otherwise simple story about second acts in an ageist entertainment industry.

American director Gia Coppola is a Hollywood insider, granddaughter of the legendary Francis Ford, niece of Sofia, and her casting choices are knowing.

Anderson’s central performance, in particular, is honest and vulnerable primarily because it is so much her lived experience. She is earning raves for what they call her “comeback”, when, really, she is like Shelly – a 57-year-old erstwhile sex symbol, endeavouring to reintroduce herself as a legitimate actress.

And this is the one difference between them: Shelly will not move on. She believes, somewhat deludedly, that she is a beautiful artiste preserving the storied tradition of French cabaret.

The grainy 16mm handheld camera repeatedly lingers on her posing wistfully against the sunshine, in carparks and under the city’s neon signs, indulging her sentimental romanticism without the movie getting anywhere.

Hot take: Anderson gives her all, but still, her starring vehicle is a skimpy affair.

The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (PG)

91 minutes, opens on March 13 ★★★★☆