Before delving into the meat and potatoes of the limited series Pam & Tommy on Hulu, one has to appreciate that this is a story told from a multitude of perspectives. This is in no way a one-way street. This is real life. There are complex and myriad pieces of this puzzle who each have their own stake in the outcome of this explosive scandal that robbed a woman at the center of it of her dignity, her personal rights, and primarily, a career beyond a sex tape. For her husband, it certainly made him known far more than for selling tens of millions of albums with his band Mötley Crüe.
Pam & Tommy starts in the mid-90s and impeccably takes us back to a time before the celebrity sex tape and even the initial stages of the internet. In fact, as the first three episodes layout—as they are now on Hulu, The Movie Mensch has seen the whole series, but won’t discuss anything beyond those three episodes and give our readers a sense of the quality, power, and importance of what Hulu has undertaken with this endeavor.
Tommy Lee has hired a contracting team (led by Seth Rogen’s Rand) who is re-doing his bedroom. He constantly changes his mind and to make matters worse, Rand and his team have had to shell out all the money to pay for supplies ahead of time without being paid. When asking for payment, they are greeted with an often shirtless, thong-sporting Lee angrily spouting, “what you don’t think I can afford it.” Things happen. Rand gets fired by Lee and decides to take revenge. He liberates the safe in the Anderson-Lee garage. When it’s opened, Rogen’s character gets his money back by selling a slew of rare weapons and other items that were of interest to pawn shops across Los Angeles. But, when he believes he has reached the end of the loot, fate strikes.
He finds a tape… a videotape. And not just any videotape. A video of spouses doing what husbands and wives do on their Honeymoon. The only thing is that these Honeymooners are the drummer for Mötley Crüe and the star of Baywatch and the upcoming expected blockbuster Barb Wire.
Having a past history in porn, Seth Rogen’s Rand contacts his old cohort “Uncle” Miltie (Parks & Recreations’ scene-stealer Nick Offerman) to help do something with this tape. They don’t seek an enormous payday—just what Rand was owed by the couple and perhaps a few thousands on top for “personal damages.” Only, no lawyers in Los Angeles want anything to do with this. Think about it, this was before Kim Kardashian and Jay J, and Paris Hilton (and other sex tape stars), even porn producers felt that nobody wanted to see two consenting married adults going at it.
At the same time, the internet was starting to explode and as we all know—necessity is the mother of invention. To say the tape then took off was the understatement of the decades.
What’s fascinating about Pam & Tommy (amongst a litany of other items) is how what happened to the newlyweds was a classic combination of timing, ignorance, and old fashioned greed meets ego. It paints a surprisingly riveting story—especially since the average American would say they know all about the Pam and Tommy sex tape, its fallout, and the players involved. You would be wrong. There is so much to this story that the eight episodes run that Hulu produced. Yet, I could easily have experienced twice that.
First and foremost, the performances of its quartet of leads—especially Stan and James—are otherworldly. Those two put on a clinic. Between their talents, make-up and hair stylists, and even body language, they ARE Pam & Tommy. Within seconds, both actors get so lost in their roles that it goes way beyond talent and lands somewhere where both the people in front and behind of the camera came together to create something utterly jaw-droppingly and movingly unreal.
What James does with her Anderson is absolutely eerie—in the best of ways. She captures exactly what we feel we know about Anderson, the private citizen, and also what it would be like to be in her position, a consideration that I would argue has failed to exist since the tape went public. Like Anderson, she combines mortification, shame, anger, living through a gender double standard, and overall fierce frustration at her lack of control to have any kind of say in this rapidly enraging wildfire.
Especially important is how Pam & Tommy filmmakers worked hard on including and making an enormous deal of the double standard that clearly exists—not just in Hollywood—but across our society. What else is striking is the voice of reason that is Anderson versus the become extremely anger of Lee. If anything, men will see the superstar drummer in the friendliest light. He’s a stud, or that’s what his people seem to think of him.
Yet, for Anderson, that wasn’t the case at all. When the couple decided to sue a prominent pornography publisher, Hustler’s Bob Gaccione, it had the opposite effect than they intended. Anderson was Hugh Hefner’s darling and for his competition run “stills” from the sex tape featuring Anderson in comprising position that make what she did in Playboy look like a trip through Disneyland. The couple (well, mostly Tommy) thought that by stopping Gaccione, the scandal would simply go away. What Lee didn’t count on (Anderson as well for that matter) is the proliferation of the tape on this newfangled thing called the internet. That cat was out of the bag, and there was no way that feline would ever find itself crawling back in.
There is a truly touching aspect of Pam & Tommy (and surprising)in how one senses a true love story at the heart of our tale. It was love at first sight and only grew from there. Stan and James achieve something that is truly difficult. Lee and Anderson were very much in love, it was dripping from every single one of their pours. The actors capture that as if it was second nature.
The actress and Playboy model were way ahead of her time. From the outset, Anderson believed that this sex tape in the public landscape was an extreme violation of her rights as a woman. She believed that her husband would be high-fived for eternity due to the tape and she would be labeled a slut or whore at the best. It’s a powerful view within this film and an important one that I couldn’t be more pleased was included.
His dignity was not damaged. But what it did do was expose his extreme anger streak and firm belief that after a decade on top of the Heavy Metal world, the sex tape was merely just an extension of his persona and his fans would help propel him to further fame—something that was gradually fading (at one point, Matchbox Twenty are given Studio A, their usual recording spot. Their place in Studio B is truly painted as the beginning of the end. It was all news to the band. This was just one example, but there was a laundry list of issues professionally for the Crüe that played a major role in the outcome of the sex scandal, to how it was even handled and approached.
Stan is Lee. From his drumming style to how he carries himself and his cadence, it is eerie how he morphs into one of the most recognizable rock stars on the planet. Not only do Lily and Sebastian look exactly like Pam & Tommy, but they have mastered their mannerisms and more importantly, the true adoration and caring that I believe was at the core between these two souls. There is a tenderness, albeit through rock and roll shades, that if the sex tape had not occurred, these two would still be together.
The man who is best known for playing Bucky “The Winter Soldier” in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, further breaks out on his own to show that The 355 star is ready for his closeup. It would have been easy to let James, her fame and talent overtake Pam & Tommy and make it the Lily James show. Instead, this is a collaboration in the purest sense of the word. After Machine Gun Kelly portrayed Lee in Netflix’s The Dirt, it seemed as if no one could top that electric performance. Think again. It’s definitely a different role in how it’s written, but what Stan does with his Lee is to humanize him in a way that a two-hour interview couldn’t come close to achieving.
Then, there’s Rogen’s Rand. Sure, he had every right to be absolutely livid with Lee and was undoubtedly treated with disrespect and verbal abuse with the pervasive threat of violence. Pam & Tommy is a complex story. There is no black and white here. Granted, a personal sex tape between a newlywed wife and husband is private, but because they are public figures, does that mean they surrender their right to keep certain aspects of their lives private?
Judging by this original Hulu limited series, the answer is absolutely “yes!”
In the hands of Rogen, his character is fueled by revenge and then fear. But he never thought in a million years what the release of the sex tape would do to both individuals. Rogen illustrates brilliantly how the tape, and how it got out, will haunt him for the remainder of his days on earth.
The film does an incredible job of capturing the era—the soundtrack is beyond brilliant. The fashion choices take you right back to those 90s and the technology of the day will certainly cause a few people some flashbacks (dial-up!!) and there’s even a mention of Alta Vista!
Pam & Tommy is also about a moment in time when the world changed almost overnight. Tommy Lee didn’t even know what the internet was when the tape broke. Then, there are issues such as all those bootlegs that were clearly rip-offs, but people just wanted to see it—no matter what! That particular element annoyed Rogen’s Rand to no end. This iconic sex tape exploded. It would not have done so well or captured the fancy of the nation at any other time, than in the month and year that it all went down. It was the personification of hell for those whose names headlined that tape.
Lake Bell (In a World) is one of four helmers who directed the series. The others are Craig Gillespie ((I, Tonya), Gwyneth Horder-Payton (American Crime Story), and Hannah Fidell. There is something about how Bell was selected to close out the series. That decision is one of a myriad that makes this miniseries one of the best of 2022. Bell has a sensitivity and awareness of the double standard of the subject matter that is touching and makes Pam & Tommy heartwarming, uplifting, and above all else, smart filmmaking at its best.
Grade: B+