Pamela Anderson like we’ve never seen her before.

I haven’t heard the name Pamela Anderson in a movie in years, but her latest film “The Last Showgirl” makes her a revelation. One that makes her a showgirl with problems of her own, some of which we have seen before and will keep seeing, and some of which we can relate to.

For example, “The Razzle Dazzle” is a special show in a major Las Vegas casino, but after less than 4 decades, the show is coming to a close. So there must be a way for it go out with a bang. I can sympathize with this because I’ve been to great places in Myrtle Beach, SC, but each year I’ve gone back, some of the best spots have closed down and been destroyed. Except I can’t relate in a cast member aspects.

It’s alumni includes Shelly (Anderson), Marianne (Brenda Song), Jodie (Kiernan Shipka), and retired showgirl-turned waitress Annette (Jamie Lee Curtis); and their producer is Eddie (Dave Baustista), who announces the bad news to them.

The formula we have seen and will keep seeing is when Shelley reunites with her daughter Hannah (Billie Lourd), who is finishing up school, and calls her Shelley. The mom wants to try to patch things up with her kid, but you know as well as I do that it’s not that easy. I’m thankful, however, that it’s not as lousy or routine as the father-son subplot was in “Red One.”

And another issue regards her age. For example, when she auditions for another show, the host (Jason Schwartzmann) likes her moxie more than her age and style. It reminds me how Mia Goth got rejected at an audition in “Pearl,” except Shelly doesn’t act like an immature psycho. She just tells him off, and hates how time has been to her.

“The Last Showgirl” doesn’t have a strong character study, but it does allow us to see Anderson excel as an actress who started to get more attention by being the February 1990 Playboy Playmate of the Month and a “Baywatch” star. In my early days, I’ve known her in her cameos in “Scooby Doo,” “Futurama,” and “Scary Movie 3,” and, again, it’s been awhile since I’ve heard her name. But her latest film gives her a life changing role.

And the supporting actors I’ve enjoyed consists of Curtis and Bautista, who both don’t use their respective fames to try to sell this movie. In fact, they’re both able to break from their comfort zones. It’s mostly how they use their dialogue, and how their chemistry with Anderson works out.

There are two great scenes of dances to the tune of Pat Benatar’s “Shadows of the Night” and Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” Director Gia Coppola films those sequences with the right kind of vibrance and energy, and with the cinematography by Autumn Durald Arkapaw (“Black Panther: Walmart Forever”). And I think we can agree that “The Last Showgirl” has great taste in music, which merges with the concept and environment.

This is a short film running for 85 minutes and I’m told it was shot for 18 days, so again, there should be more character development. But for all the positive aspects I’ve mentioned, “The Last Showgirl” has its moments worth dancing to.

In Theaters This Friday