Sebastian Stan as Tommy Lee and Lily James as Pamela Anderson in Hulu’s Pam and Tommy. All photos are courtesy of the Pam and Tommy IMDb page.
Born from an article written in Rolling Stone Magazine circa 2014, Pam and Tommy is an in-depth look at everything we didn’t know, and on some level, everything we tried to ignore about the scandal. It starts out with what we generally know, that Pam and Tommy met at a club and hit it off immediately and married soon after, they had a rocky relationship but for the most part, it was solid. Then some construction worker got his hands on their sex tape, reproduced it and sold it online and, initially, made a lot of money off it until bootlegs flooded the market and killed his side hustle. Pam and Tommy were accused of releasing the tape to cause scandal and draw attention to themselves (there is apparently no such thing as bad press), they went through several years of legal troubles in an effort to stop the tape from being distributed online only for them to lose to free speech and digital media/online content rights (there was no precedent to pull from) and soon thereafter divorced. What we didn’t see was how exactly the tape got leaked, how differently the public and the legal system treated Pam versus Tommy, and how Rand basically got off scot-free, and boy is it a wild ride.
Nick Offerman as Uncle Miltie and Seth Rogan as Rand
While a lot of us watching the series might be inspired to take a walk down a mid 90’s entertainment memory lane, the actors who were brought on board do such a superb job in their respective roles you can’t help but pay attention to every last detail. The script and storyline are captivating, Sebastian and Lily’s performances are at times nearly indistinguishable from the personas of the real Pam and Tommy, Seth Rogan and Nick Offerman are just phenomenal as the degenerates who stole/distributed the tape, not to mention the wonderful secondary characters like Taylor Schilling as Erica, Andrew Dice Clay as mobster Butchie, and Fred Hechinger as Seth Warshavsky, a guy you greatly wanted to punch in the face. Maybe multiple times. The cinematography is enthralling and fun, and yet intentionally invasive and awkward and the soundtrack is a unique combination of what you would and would not have expected out of a series like this. Pam and Tommy is a genuinely brilliant series that is more than worth your precious time to watch and maybe even learn something from.
Andrew Dice Clay as Butchie.
Hulu’s Pam and Tommy drops on 2/2/2022 and can be streamed here
The official trailer can be seen here
For more information on cast and crew please visit their IMDb right here
