American Sex Tape Story: Pam & Tommy Review
Rethinking the biggest celebrity scandal of the late 90s.
Pamela Anderson (Lily James), Playboy star and American cutie at the peak of her career, vows to her friends that she will never date the bad guys again. Next comes the toast “to boring accountants”, and then Tommy Lee (Sebastian Stan) appears on the horizon - a rock musician with an explosive character and swine manners. Spark, storm, madness, 4 days of stalking by Lee, and now the couple is already announced as husband and wife somewhere in Cancun. Rand Gauthier (Set Rogen), a retired carpenter and pornographic actor, is renovating a hot couple's love nest and always gets caught up in Tommy Lee's hot hand. After another conflict, Rand is fired without any pay, and he decides to take revenge. If their paths had never crossed, the end of the 90s would have turned out differently. But it's Rand who steals the ill-fated videotape of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee's 8-minute intimate scene, the rest is history.
The series was based on an investigative article by Rolling Stone, in which the journalist restored the chronology of the events of the kidnapping and distribution of sex tape. The material is based on the story of Rand Gauthier, who stole the tape and kindly told in an interview about the crime in stages. The series is not just "based on true events", it meticulously follows in the footsteps of people's biographies, and even the craziest actions are backed up by facts here (perhaps, except for Tommy Lee's dialogue with his penis, but who knows). At the same time, "Pam and Tommy" is still not a documentary reconstruction of events, but an artistic story of explosive love, unfolding against the backdrop of a major media scandal.
Don't even ask what Pamela herself thinks of the series. The story of the home video leak turned out to be so traumatic for the actress that she refused to take any part in the project and made it clear that the prospect of the series did not please her at all. The incident left a serious imprint on Anderson's career. A Playboy model and an aspiring actress who got a role in Baywatch, and so few people took seriously in the film industry, because a beautiful blonde with big breasts cannot be talented and smart (got it? agree?). After the incident, the already creaking doors of film studios were closed to her, and people who voluntarily paid from $50 to $175 to watch a private video of an intimate nature immediately rushed to condemn Pamela, roughly speaking, for having sex with her husband.
The creator of the film "I, Tonya" Craig Gillespie heard Pamela, but did it his own way. Ethically, the act is, of course, the most impudent, only a complete rethinking of the events of 1996 and a more sober look at the reaction of the society of that time saves the director from the electric chair. He tried to show Pamela as we have not seen her before due to stereotyped perception, misogyny of the brain, or simply from a lack of real interest in her person. The director doesn't focus so much on the heist and distribution of the tape as he tries to let the audience go through the whole Anderson nightmare. No one seems to hear Pamela: neither the creators of "Rescuers Malibu", cutting her monologues, nor Tommy, point-blank not noticing how hard the event is hitting her career. In the series, she finally finds her voice, but the conflict is that this happens without the consent of the real Pamela.
If we put aside all ethical issues and talk only about the art form, then the series is not to blame. Gillespie managed to make a real absurdist comedy out of the material he got, sometimes caricatured, but at the same time sincere, imbued with empathy for both Anderson and the unfortunate thief Rand Gauthier. Tenderly wrapped in a nostalgic soundtrack, the story with restored markers of the era blossoms on the screen, inviting you on a wild journey through posh mansions, underground porn studios and the minds of the people of that time.
You can say and think anything about the series, but even if you don’t like it categorically, it’s unlikely that someone will raise a hand to throw at least one stone in Lily James’s garden. The British actress not only speaks with a perfect American accent, but also caught the smallest details in Pamela's behavior, her facial expressions, tone of voice, piercing gaze. Together with the magnificent work of the make-up artists, a miracle of reincarnation happened before our eyes, which can then be presented as an example in acting schools. James's performance can definitely be called one of the best in 2022. Sebastian Sten also keeps up with the on-screen passion, although physically he is still distinguishable from Tommy, he managed to masterfully intercept the musician's manners.
Pam and Tommy is the greatest love story (or rather passion) of the late 90s, which is experiencing a new round and rethought by the new generation, pointing out the mistakes of the old. It's like a time capsule stuck in the media field that has had a huge impact on today's pop culture. Despite the importance of the precedent, the series does not slip into moralizing and gives the viewer a chance to draw conclusions on their own. At best, the project will achieve justice for Pamela and help us see the situation from her perspective, at worst, it will turn out that we, as a society, have not made much progress and remain headlong in the conservative 90s.
This article was sponsored by Stephen Morgan
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