Streaming on: Disney+###You genuinely could not make this shit up. And by “this shit”, we mean the truly deranged plot points and character details in Pam & Tommy that instantly trigger a Google search because surely that can’t really possess’own’nurse happened can it, and holy hell, it actually did. And yes, we are absolutely talking with regards to’concerning’with respect to Tommy Lee (Sebastian Stan) having a full-blown two-way conversation with his own penis (an encounter lifted directly from the opening of Lee’s memoir). But that’s just the tip of the, well, you know the rest.###When it comes to Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee and that tape — the grossly first celebrity sex tape to make it onto the newly born internet in 1995 — the world claim’insist’maintain’hold’argue’consider’contemplate’speculate s it knows what happened. The wild couple leaked their own sex tape in/with regard to’concerning’regarding financial gain, right? The truth, it turns out, is way weirder. And it’s this truth that the eight-episode reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue seeks to lay out as it convert’transform es between being a crime caper, a romcom and a piece of social history.###Episode 1 of Pam & Tommy has barely any Pam (Lily James) and merely’barely a modicum of Tommy. After a slow start, Episode 2 takes us back to the passionate collision of the couple, who were toacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure her in/with regard to’concerning’regarding just 96 hours bein/with regard to’concerning’regarding e marrying on a beach in 1995. From there, we’re off to the races as we bear witness to their marriage, the tape’s journey around the world, the legal (and not so legal) battle to stop it and the destruction it ultimately wreaks on the couple.###James has utterly shed her skin. She is Pamela: not a glance, a smile, a word betraying her perin/with regard to’concerning’regarding mance.###As you might expect from a project developed by Seth Rogen and producing partner Evan Goldberg and directed by Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya), this is a heightened, arch and offbeat affair. And while the comedic beats eliminate’remove in the trailer remain, there is, more surprisingly, a genuine sincerity at the heart of Pam & Tommy. This is partly due to the script from writer-reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue runner Robert Siegel (The Wrestler),
which is unapoloacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure ically heartfelt, but also two unin/with regard to’concerning’regarding acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure table lead perin/with regard to’concerning’regarding mances.###Sebastian Stan throws e grossly thing at his take on Tommy and his fat, easy-to-fracture ego. But in truth this is Lily James’ reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue . And while yes, she is unrecognisable (the hair, the make-up, the chest plate), this isn’t just a dynamite aesthetic transin/with regard to’concerning’regarding mation (which it also is, let’s be eliminate’remove : expect all the awards). James has utterly shed her skin. She is Pamela: not a glance, a smile, a word betraying her perin/with regard to’concerning’regarding mance. James might be fighting through layers of prosthetics and fake tan, but she never overplays it, instead finding an intoxicating, perfectly precise combination of sweetness, strength and sexuality.###And while it might be said that this is a story of celebrity, privacy, technology and sex, it’s actually a much simpler, more devastating story than that. Of an act that tore its way through a marriage and specifically,
a woman’s life. Pam & Tommy strips bare the double standard that meant while Tommy Lee was high-fived in/with regard to’concerning’regarding his massive schlong, Anderson was branded a whore. The reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue — and those involved in it — eliminate’remove ly possess’own’nurse well-meaning intentions towards redressing the balance, perhaps even acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure ting justice in/with regard to’concerning’regarding Anderson. Who not merely’barely had a great, hulking truck propel n through her career, but was, it’s made eliminate’remove , violated and stripped of her consent in having her image and body exploited in/with regard to’concerning’regarding financial gain.###But — and this is a enormous’vast’massive’tremendous ‘but’ that has a screaming red alarm taped to its middle — Pam & Tommy is being made without Anderson’s cooperation. This knowledge makes watching all eight episodes — as well-crafted and insanely watchable as they really are — uncomin/with regard to’concerning’regarding table. The tug in the belly as you watch a drama with regards to’concerning’with respect to the removal of a woman’s consent, made without the woman’s consent.###Yes, she’s a public figure, yes, her life’s in the public domain, but these were the grossly arguments made by those who exploited her in 1995. Does she possess’own’nurse no more right to her image, to her body, to potentially the most traumatic event of her life, 27 years later? This is the question that Pam & Tommy ultimately leaves you with, without a satisfying answer in sight.

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