Serie - Pam & Tommy - A great cast for a sultry series

By Mulder, 26 january 2022

Pam & Tommy is an American biographical drama mini-series based on Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee and actress Pamela Anderson. The series is directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Robert D. Siegel. It will air on Hulu in the United States, Disney+ internationally and Star+ in Latin America. The cast includes Lily James and Sebastian Stan as Anderson and Lee, respectively. 

The Pam & Tommy series will be available only in the Star world and for 18+ profiles. The reinforced parental controls implemented by Disney+ last spring ensure an age-appropriate viewing experience, restricting access to certain content and allowing the creation of profiles locked by a PIN code. This is an appropriate way to secure viewing for the youngest members of the family without affecting the enjoyment of their elders.

It's always interesting to see how screenwriters can incorporate a true story into a narrative and easily go beyond the simple framework of picturesque facts. It is easy to understand the will of The Walt Disney Company to offer on its online video-on-demand subscription platforms Hulu (for the United States) and Disney+ (in France and other countries) a series for adults capable of competing with the series offered on HBO and HBO which implies not only a more mature and violent content, a cast of renowned actors but also catchy themes often related to sex, the mafia and other themes far from the simple modern fairy tale. In this case the screenwriter Robert D. Siegel under the leadership of Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen (showrunners but also actor for the latter) revisits the 90s, the golden age of adult cinema and the beginnings of the Internet. 

Robert D. Siegel's masterful script provides a solid basis for the story of Pam & Tommy, each episode of which forms a more or less successful segment of a gripping story that only becomes really interesting in the third episode. While the first two episodes introduce the characters and the rivalry between has-been Rand (Seh Rogen) and a wealthy couple with no real reference point, Tommy Lee (drummer of the hard rock band Mötley Crüe) and Pamela Anderson (Baywatch), and do not hesitate to fall into pure provocation, especially in a scene between Tommy Lee and a part of his body, the other episodes gain in efficiency and rhythm and avoid continuing to rely on nudity as the only source to feed the story. This original eight-part series - which is as much a love story as a criminal case - explores the delicate balance that can exist between privacy, technology and celebrity.

Inspired by a true story, Pam & Tommy benefits from a prestigious cast with Lily James (Yesterday), Sebastian Stan (Falcon and the Winter Soldier), Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation), Taylor Schilling (Orange Is the New Black) and Seth Rogen (Seduce Me If You Can! (Long Shot)).

The series revisits the sex tape scandal of 1990s tabloid star couple Pamela Anderson (Lily James) - revealed by the series Baywatch - and Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee (Sebastian Stan), whose honeymoon romps were leaked to the public. Stolen from the couple's home by a disgruntled businessman (Seth Rogen), the VHS goes from being a clandestine curiosity to a worldwide phenomenon when it is illegally downloaded from the web in 1997. The DVD rights to the Pamela and Tommy sext-tape were later sold to the Vivid company for $15 million and it is estimated that the sext-tape generated close to $77 million.

Building such a mini-series was a real ambitious bet provided it was in good hands and this is certainly the case here with a duo of showrunners who not only wanted to shake up the universe of mainstream series but also to show the flaws of the star system in which money sticks to the people and they seem to have an overinflated ego and can afford anything. In the same way the duo of actors Lily James (Baby Driver (2017), Darkest Hour (2017), Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018), Yesterday (2019)) and Sebastian Stan (James "Bucky" Barnes in the Disney+ Marvel movie universe and series) works wonderfully. The uncanny resemblance between the actress Lily James and Pamela Anderson easily reinforces our adhesion to this series that does not hesitate to cross the line of political correctness to display all possible excesses.  The result is a captivating series that succeeds in retranscribing the 90s on screen and taking a real look at the overrated actress that is Pamela Anderson. The scenes showing the movie Barb Wire show that she is a bad actress besides having a great figure.

However, one wonders if this series would not have gained even more efficiency with a better editing and surely to be limited to only six episodes of a similar length (episodes 5, 6 and 8 are only about thirty minutes long). Nevertheless, this series is an undeniable success to be discovered from February 2nd, 2022. 

Score : 8/10

Synopsis: 
A look back at the scandal of the sex tape of the tabloid star couple of the 1990s, the star of Baywatch, Pamela Anderson and the drummer of Mötley Crüe, Tommy Lee, during their honeymoon that was disclosed to the general public.

Pam & Tommy
Developed by Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen
Written by Robert D. Siegel
Directed by Craig Gillespie
Starring Lily James, Sebastian Stan, Seth Rogen, Nick Offerman, Taylor Schilling
Composer: Matthew Margeson
Executive Producers: Megan Ellison, Dave Franco, Evan Goldberg, Sue Naegle, Seth Rogen, Dylan Sellers
Editor : Tatiana S. Riegel
Production companies : Annapurna Television, Limelight, Point Grey Pictures, Ramona Films
Distributor : Disney Platform Distribution
Original Network : Hulu (USA), Disney + (France)
Release date : February 2, 2022

Photos : Copyright Hulu

(Source : press release)