‘It’s a triumph of acting and special-effects make-up’: Lily James lauded for ‘mesmerising and passionate’ performance in Hulu’s Pam & Tommy in first reviews
- Pam & Tommy chronicles the infamous sex tape which rocked Pamela and her then-husband Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee during their three year marriage
- Pamela, 54, and Tommy, 59, tied the knot on a beach in Mexico in 1995 after dating for just four days
- At the time, Pamela’s mother hadn’t even met Tommy. The pair would go on to welcome sons Brandon, 25, and Dylan, 24, but they divorced in 1998
- Pam & Tommy will become available to stream on February 2
Critics are praising Lily James’ performance in Pam & Tommy, which follows the momentous legal battle over Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee’s sex tape.
While Hulu’s eight-episode limited series is earning mixed reactions from critics, reviewers were united in praise for the 32-year-old Downton Abbey star’s performance as the Baywatch icon, 54 – with the portrayal described as ‘nothing short of a revelation’ by AwardsWatch.
‘Anderson is so mesmerizingly played by James that every other character feels underwritten in comparison,’ raved TV Guide’s Allison Picurro.
Amazing transformation! Critics are praising Lily James’ performance in Pam & Tommy, which follows the momentous legal battle over Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee’s sex tape (Pamela pictured right in the 1990s)
Variety’s Daniel D’Addario lauded Lily for her portrayal, writing: ‘James’ Pam is an outright triumph, both of acting and of special-effects makeup.
‘To the latter point first, even viewers (like this one) not particularly concerned with visual realness will be genuinely stunned by the degree to which James has been made to resemble the Pam of the 1990s.
‘Meticulousness of this sort can sometimes stand in for insight about a character, but here, it allows James leeway to push into aspects of Anderson we might not expect. The makeup department, in so precisely crafting an image, gives James the room to subvert it.
And make no mistake — despite the double-barreled title, this is Pam’s show. Stan’s strong performance as Tommy is framed through the rocker’s impact on his wife.’
Wow: While Hulu’s eight-episode limited series is earning mixed reactions from critics, reviews were united in praise for the 32-year-old Downton Abbey star’s performance as the Baywatch icon, 54 (above with Sebastian Stan as Tommy Lee)
Icons: Pam & Tommy chronicles the infamous sex tape which rocked Pamela and her then-husband Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee during their three year marriage; the couple pictured in 1996
‘He’s her teammate in combating scandal and the provocateur whose outbursts she cannot withstand. But it’s Pam who holds one’s gaze.
‘James, an alumnus of “Downton Abbey,” plays her as a congenital optimist who grows chastened and weary as each seeming chance to push beyond the red swimsuit evades her. Tommy perpetually wants to amplify, to react; Pam is a force for deliberation and calm.’
Decider’s Meghan O’Keefe applauded the ‘provocative storytelling’ but doesn’t ‘think everything in the series works.’
Still, she made it clear she couldn’t stress enough ‘how phenomenal Lily James is as Anderson.’
Black Girl Nerds’ Cassondra Feltus wrote: ‘I laughed, I gasped, and shed a few tears. It’s honestly one of the best miniseries I’ve seen in the last few years.’
Impressing viewers: Variety’s Daniel D’Addario lauded Lily for her portrayal, writing: ‘James’ Pam is an outright triumph, both of acting and of special-effects makeup
While critics praised Lily for showing a more sensitive side of Anderson, the drama itself was criticised for its ‘dramatic misfiring’ and for being a ‘violation’ against the actress who was not involved in its production.
The Hollywood Reporter speculated viewers will struggle to feel ‘fully comfortable’ watching ‘with a Pamela Anderson image reclamation project from which Pamela Anderson doesn’t stand to benefit in any tangible way.’
‘We’ve made a mess of celebrity in this country. Pam & Tommy, if nothing else, captures that,’ THR’s Chief Television Critic Daniel Fienberg concluded.
Meanwhile, Arizona Republic slammed the project entirely, for being ‘all over the place’ or, in other words, ‘a mess.’
The reviewer, Bill Goodykoontz, didn’t hold back as he slammed the series for misfiring so badly, before citing a scene ‘in which Tommy talks to his penis — and it talks back.’
‘Anderson is so mesmerizingly played by James that every other character feels underwritten in comparison,’ raved TV Guide’s Allison Picurro
‘If anything the series, which streams on Hulu beginning February 2, tries too hard. It wants to be too many things at the same time — shocking, enlightened, funny, serious, revealing, intimate, whatever,’ he concluded.
AV Club suggested ‘maybe it could have succeeded without Anderson’s involvement. But as it stands, the show is just another violation in a long list of violations.’
Lacy Baugher echoed a similar statement in Paste Magazine as she noted watching the show made her feel ‘feel uncomfortable and borderline complicit in the mess that the couple’s lives became.’
On a more positive response, Rolling Stone called it ‘whip-smart, funny and a poignant re-examination of an event that once seemed like an easy punchline for tabloids and Jay Leno monologues.’
Biographical drama: Pam & Tommy will become available to stream next Wednesday on February 2
PAM & TOMMY’S CRITIC REVIEWS: ‘We’ve made a mess of celebrity in this country. Pam & Tommy, if nothing else, captures that’
VARIETY
Rating: N/A
Daniel D’Addario writes: ‘James’ Pam is an outright triumph, both of acting and of special-effects makeup.
‘To the latter point first, even viewers (like this one) not particularly concerned with visual realness will be genuinely stunned by the degree to which James has been made to resemble the Pam of the 1990s.’
AV CLUB
Rating: 3.5
Olivia Truffaut-Wong writes: ‘If only Pam & Tommy had the bravery to look at its own complicity, maybe it could have succeeded without Anderson’s involvement. But as it stands, the show is just another violation in a long list of violations.’
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
Rating: N/A
Dan Fienberg writes: ‘We’ve made a mess of celebrity in this country. Pam & Tommy, if nothing else, captures that.’
DAILY TELEGRAPH
Rating: 3/5
Ed Power writes: ‘If agreeably riotous and often hilarious, it misses the mark dramatically’
ROLLING STONE
Rating: 4/5
Alan Sepinwall writes: ‘A whip-smart, funny, and ultimately poignant re-examination of an event that once seemed like an easy punchline for tabloids and Jay Leno monologues.’
ARIZONA REPUBLIC
Rating: N/A
Bill Goodykoontz writes: ‘The sex-tape saga of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee seems like a can’t-miss subject for a limited TV series. Yet somehow “Pam & Tommy” manages to misfire.’
FINANCIAL TIMES
Rating: 3/5
Dan Einav writes: While subtlety is never the order of the day, as Pam & Tommy progresses it does move from titillation to a more profound study of humiliation and a critique of pervasive cultural sleaze.
AWARD WATCH
Rating: 4/5
Erik Anderson writes: Lily James as Pamela Anderson is nothing short of a revelation. The dowdy Lady Rose from Downton Abbey this is not as James imbues Anderson with purpose and passion and gives us a side of her rarely seen.
BLACK GIRL NERDS
Rating: 5/5
Cassondra Feltus writes: ‘I laughed, I gasped, and shed a few tears. It’s honestly one of the best miniseries I’ve seen in the last few years.’
Earlier this month, James revealed that her role as the former Playboy playmate is one of her most challenging and transformative to date.
The actress told PORTER that it felt ‘liberating’ playing Anderson, but explained: ‘I’ve never worked so hard. I read the books [Anderson] has written, I read her poetry, I can parrot along to all her interviews.’
‘I love that about acting; you fit into a character, and you realize you’re not as different as you might have thought. You lean in to things in yourself, and discard parts of you that aren’t useful. We were exploring a particular moment in Pamela and Tommy’s life in the ’90s, this absolute lust for love.’
Pam & Tommy chronicles the sex tape scandal which rocked Pamela and her then-husband (played by Sebastian Stan) during their three year marriage.
It comes after photos of the star in costume hit the headlines, with Lily looking like Pamela’s twin in her iconic red Baywatch swimsuit.
Lily explained that the makeup and costume took four hours every day to perfect, and came complete with a prosthetic body suit.
She explained: ‘Of course, there was the physical transformation. Slowly, our incredible team found a balance where I resembled Pamela but also felt like I could act through it.
‘I’ve never done anything where I look very different from myself before. And I’d really like to continue in this vein, because I felt there was something very freeing and liberating in it. There was a bravery that came from that. A courage that came from… disappearing.’
She added that she was sorry to take the costume off at the end of the day, saying: ‘I hated it… It was like being stripped of all these superpowers! I’d really enjoyed the physicality and the sensuality, even down to the long fingernails. There was just so much character to hold on to – it was really thrilling.’
Whirlwind: Pamela, 54, and Tommy, 59, tied the knot on a beach in Mexico in 1995 after dating for just four days. At the time, Pamela’s mother hadn’t even met Tommy
Pamela, 54, and Tommy, 59, tied the knot on a beach in Mexico in 1995 after dating for just four days. At the time, Pamela’s mother hadn’t even met Tommy.
The pair would go on to welcome sons Brandon, 25, and Dylan, 24, but they divorced in 1998.
In 2015, Pam told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live that she never profited from the sex tape, nor even watched it. She said: ‘I’ve never seen it. I made not one dollar. It was stolen property…
Not okay: In 2015, Pam told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live that she never profited from the sex tape, nor even watched it. She said: ‘I’ve never seen it. I made not one dollar. It was stolen property…
‘We made a deal to stop all the shenanigans. I was seven months pregnant with Dylan and thinking it was affecting the pregnancy with the stress and said, “I’m not going to court anymore. I’m not being deposed anymore by these horny, weird lawyer men. I don’t want to talk about my vagina anymore or my public sex — anything.”‘
The sex tape was stolen by Rand Gauthier, who is played by Seth Rogen in the show, after Tommy reportedly refused to pay for work that he had performed on their house.
When Gauthier confronted the musician about not being paid the $20,000 he was owed, Tommy pulled out a gun to scare him away.
Gauthier took his revenge by stealing the giant safe that had been kept in the couple’s garage, which mainly housed the drummer’s guns and Pamela’s jewelry, in addition to the sex tape.
Earlier this year, Pam claimed that the video wasn’t actually a sex tape, but was merely a compilation of footage of them naked on vacation, which just happened to include sex acts.
Last year, insiders claimed to The Sun that Pam thinks Pam & Tommy is ‘a joke and cheap knock-off.’
She reportedly called the show ‘God awful,’ though the series had just begun filming, and she apparently claimed she had never heard of Lily or Sebastian.
The source said Pamela had ‘no intention of watching this God awful show, absolutely not. Never.’
Coming to the silver screen: The sex tape was stolen by Rand Gauthier, who is played by Seth Rogen in the show, after Tommy reportedly refused to pay for work that he had performed on their house
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