This 98-Minute Pamela Anderson Cult Classic Is the Perfect Late-Night Streaming Watch

Barb-Wire-Pamela-Anderson-2 — Pamela Anderson in a still from Barb Wire.

Trust the late Roger Ebert to draw comparisons between a BDSM-tinged ’90s B-movie and the evergreen classic Casablanca. In his review of this film, Ebert evoked the simmering war romance starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman with the winking self-awareness that many argued was missing in the 1996 film. The movie in question was headlined by Pamela Anderson, shortly after she became a global icon thanks to her role in the hit television series Baywatch. However, unlike other starlets at similar stages of their careers, Anderson struggled to make the jump from television to movies. More recently, Sydney Sweeney has demonstrated that even her level of popularity can’t guarantee stardom. It took her several failed attempts to deliver a hit of The Housemaid‘s magnitude.

Incidentally, Sweeney is attached to star in and executive produce a remake of the cult classic sci-fi movie Barbarella, which was a direct influence on Anderson’s 1996 film. Directed by David Hogan, the movie was set in a “future” 2017 where Anderson’s character is pulled into a political conspiracy during a civil war. Perhaps this is what reminded Ebert of Casablanca. Awarding Anderson’s movie two-and-a-half stars out of four in his review, Ebert also commented on the film’s portrayal of sex and wrote, “The movie has been rated ‘R’ for ‘nudity/sexuality.’ There is some nudity, mostly weirdly lit. The sexuality involves various forms of foreplay to violence. There is nothing resembling eroticism, except for the dialogue ‘she’s as tender as Tuscan veal’.”

When To Watch Pamela Anderson’s Superhero Movie on Prime Video

Audiences of a certain generation would have guessed by now that we’re talking about the movie Barb Wire, which wasn’t, in fact, based on Casablanca. It was based on a Dark Horse Comics character, and was a major box-office bomb. Barb Wire grossed under $4 million worldwide against a reported budget of nearly $10 million. The movie now holds a 28% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “Barb Wire could’ve been fun camp, but Pamela Anderson can’t deliver her lines with any dramatic or comedic impact.” The movie will debut on June 1 on Prime Video for a new generation to discover. Anderson has attempted to shed her past image in recent years, most prominently with an acclaimed performance in the film The Last Showgirl. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.