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The Last Showgirl

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Kennedy Unthank
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Movie Review

Even after 30 years, dancing for Las Vegas’ Le Razzle Dazzle still fills Shelly with awe.

The 57-year-old woman relishes each performance. It’s a high-class spectacle, meant to wow the audience with “breasts and rhinestones and joy.” To Shelly, it’s a tasteful continuation of the French revue, where the showgirls are “ambassadors of style and grace.”

The far younger dancers with whom Shelly performs don’t see it that way. One young woman is just in it for the money. For another, it’s a way to break away from home. And none of them see Le Razzle Dazzleas anything more than another Vegas nudie show.

So when the venue’s stage manager, Eddie, informs the women that the act is closing in two weeks, it seems the rest of the world agrees with the younger women’s assessment: There’s nothing particularly special about Le Razzle Dazzle.

Desperately, Shelly clings to the meaning she finds in those final performances. She’s spent 30 years with the show in a line of work that emphasizes youth and beauty over talent and story.

And that’s in an industry happy to toss any woman aside once those fleeting attributes start to fade.


Positive Elements

You might be surprised that a movie about Las Vegas showgirls has anything redemptive in it all. And make no mistake: There are some big issues to deal with here, as we’ll see. But some positive themes are woven into the mix, too.

For one thing, the story illustrates the dangers of idolizing your career. Even as everyone around Shelly begins to move on, viewing Le Razzle Dazzle as little more than a salacious flash of skin for money, Shelly continues to cling to her career. She claims that she can’t even imagine life outside of the light of the stage. And we hear more than one instance in which she hurts relationships so she can stay on stage.

That tension eventually culminates in Shelly’s total breakdown, brought on by the brutally honest criticisms of a director late in the film. Following that, we see her embrace a healthier mindset. She begins to repair relationships and come to terms with the future, despite not knowing what it may bring.

One of those relationships is with her estranged daughter, Hannah. After watching the show for the first time, Hannah is upset that Shelly sacrificed for her career at the expense of being a good parent. Hannah finally watches the show in the hope that she’d see something that made her mom’s abandonment of her make sense, but she is left discouraged. After the tense conversation, Shelly reflects on her choices, and she sincerely apologizes to her daughter, admitting her mistakes and stressing that she does love her. Shelly also says that despite how it seemed, she was only doing what she felt would provide the most for Hannah.

Spiritual Elements

Someone uses the phrase “before hell freezes over.” There are also verbal references to “saints” and “saviors.” Someone identifies people by astrological signs.

Sexual & Romantic Content

In case there was any doubt regarding what type of showgirls are in view here, it quickly becomes apparent. We see various topless women as they prepare for the show. Their outfits when dressed can—at best—be compared to rhinestone bikinis, showing ample amounts of front and rear. Likewise, cocktail waitresses walk around in revealing uniforms.

A topless woman in underwear dances in a circus performance. At one point, she balances a plate on a stick and makes it look as if she’s holding it up with her crotch.

One of the dancers obtains a new job with a different group of dancers at a venue called Hedonist’s Paradise. She shows off the dance moves, most of which include her touching intimate parts of her body or else intentionally showing them off to the audience.

Shelly is horrified by the dance number at Hedonist’s Paradise, calling the act “low class.” This sparks a debate between her and another showgirl, Mary-Anne, about whether their own act is low class, too. Shelly genuinely believes that Le Razzle Dazzle is high-class art, though most everyone else thinks of it as just another salacious show where women dance and take off their tops for men. This includes Shelly’s daughter, who after watching the show, angrily confronts her mother for choosing the “stupid nudie show” over her. We see a snippet of the performance, and the screen fades to black before we see anything beyond their rhinestone underwear costumes.

A man places a tip into a woman’s cleavage. Mary-Anne laments how she can’t find work because of her chest size, and she alleges that the venues attempt to focus on hiring women who are “barely 18.”

Someone wonders if one of the showgirls is also a prostitute. When one of the women compares Eddie to a father figure, Mary-Anne crudely states, “He’s not like our dad; he’s seen our boobs like a thousand times.”

Violent Content

None.

Crude or Profane Language

The f-word is used more than 25 times, and the s-word is heard 10 times. We also hear a handful of uses of “a–,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” “d-ck” and “t-ts.” God’s name is used in vain about 25 times, including use with “d–n.” Jesus’ name is likewise misused four times. Someone displays a crude hand gesture.

Drug & Alcohol Content

People drink various types and amounts of alcohol. Shelly’s friend Annette serves drinks in a casino. Shelly turns to liquor for some comfort. People smoke cigarettes. There’s a reference to cocaine.

Other Noteworthy Elements

Someone claims that “all histories are bad with men.” The indulgent and selfish hedonistic culture of Las Vegas pervades the story.

Shelly reveals that she and her ex-husband refused to compromise to stay together. A father admits to wanting nothing to do with his daughter. A mother abandons her child. When someone, at her lowest point, begs Shelly to comfort her, Shelly slams the door in her face.

Conclusion

Nowhere is consumerism more prevalent than in Las Vegas.

The city feasts on hedonism—the best food, the best shows, the best looks. It’s a culture that cares little for history and tradition, happy to toss something aside for the next thing that’ll draw eyeballs and earn money. And it stands in stark contrast to Shelly’s rose-colored love for a show that is heaving through its final breaths.

That’s how the city treats Shelly, too. There are plenty of young, attractive women out there whom employers are more than happy to hire—ones that make them more money, too. And whereas Shelly was once one of those young women, now she finds herself on the precipice of aging out. The show will go on—but it will go on without her.

Of course, the show I’m talking about isn’t just Le Razzle Dazzle; it’s that consumeristic culture that, while prevalent in Vegas, isn’t exclusive to it. And in a city where the young and beautiful are kings and queens, and where artistry comes second, the writing is on the wall for every performer—male and female—the moment they enter the city limits. It’s only a matter of time before they’re discarded for the next generation of attractive performers.

It’s a dreary message delivered by a city that is built upon indulging in the very vanities that the book of Ecclesiastes warns can never fulfill us.

The Last Showgirl reminds viewers of a difficult truth: Fame, beauty and wealth fade. Though we might be able to build a life on those things for a time, none of them will last.

But this sad story ultimately fails to recognize that there is an unending and unchanging God in which we can find eternal joy. As Isaiah wrote, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever” (Isaiah 40:8). Instead, the movie culminates with a sober and somber conclusion bereft of much hope, like a story that ends halfway through the conflict.

It’s a revealing half-truth—in more ways than one. Because the path to the movie’s moral goes, obviously, right through a burlesque venue. Female nudity is an inescapable part of this story, And language is heavy, too, with a couple dozen f-words and many misuses of God’s name.

The Last Showgirl illustrates some poignant, painful realizations. But it relies upon equally explicit imagery to make its point.


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Kennedy Unthank

Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”

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