Pam & Tommy review: Lily James and Sebastian Stan star as Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee in a new Hulu series about the infamous ’90s sex tape

Years before leaking your own sex tape became a surefire path to celebrity, the release of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee’s sex tape in the mid-’90s caused a media blitz that rocked the couple to the core. While many celebrity pundits at the time assumed the couple had leaked the tape themselves, the upcoming Pam & Tommy mini-series reveals that the truth was actually much stranger (and creepier).

Lily James (Downton Abbey) undergoes a radical transformation as Pamela Anderson, the perky blonde Playboy Playmate and Baywatch star. Perpetually drawn to bad boys, Pam’s friends try to keep her away from notorious Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee (Sebastian Stan) when he meets her at a dance club, but it’s hopeless; after a whirlwind romance, the pair are soon married.

While the couple is still in the process of getting to know each other, Lee is retooling his California mansion to make way for an elaborate new bedroom for him and Pam (complete with sex swing). Perpetually changing his mind on the fly and generally acting like an entitled scumbag, he fires a worker, Rand (Seth Rogen) mid-job without paying him.

Seething with anger and resentment, Rand hatches an elaborate plot to break into the mansion and steal enough to earn back his lost wages (and then some). After making off with a massive safe (packed with guns and jewelry), Rand eventually notices a small tape and quickly realizes he’s sitting on a porn goldmine.

Partnering with a sleazy porn producer (Nick Offerman), Rand sets up a worldwide operation to copy and sell the Pam & Tommy sex tape via a rudimentary website, which sets off an explosive pop culture phenomenon while putting him on the radar of Lee’s formidable security detail.

A nostalgic (and exploitative) look back

While Pam & Tommy is a nostalgic look back at an infamous ’90s cultural moment that just preceded (or directly led to) the internet and online porn boom, the series often feels just as exploitative as the original leaked tape was 25+ years ago. Anderson has been adamant about not wanting this series released, and has tried to move on from this invasive incident for decades now. Pam & Tommy wants viewers to empathize with Pam, and takes great pains to show how hurt and traumatized she was when the stolen private tape became a pop culture punchline, all while she was pregnant with her and Tommy’s son.

With a number of episodes written by Robert Siegel (The Wrestler, The Founder), Pam & Tommy features the drama of the former and the irreverence of the latter, with often mixed results. The show wants us to laugh along with the absurdity of the situation and Lee’s often unhinged actions, yet also wants viewers to re-consider Anderson’s terrible treatment in the ’90s, much like the recent Brittany Spears documentaries have tried to do.

It’s a tricky tightrope walk that occasionally succeeds, especially in the scenes with Rogen desperately trying to sell the tape and then trying to outrun Lee’s people once they begin to track him down.

The show does have a kinetic energy, buoyed by a series of great ’90s needle-drops that slot right in with Yellowjackets if you want to curate a great TV mix-tape (Pam & Tommy takes place just a year before the initial events in Yellowjackets). Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya, Cruella) directs the first two episodes and brings a vibrancy and propulsive feel to the show that eventually begins to peter out as the episodes progress to a darker conclusion, far from the sun-lit boat where the infamous tape was filmed.

The birth of the online porn industry

In many ways, Pam & Tommy works best as a story about the ’90s internet boom that allowed the porn industry to grow into a multi-billion dollar business. Unlike Pam & Tommy, Rand actually has a character arc and learns from his mistakes; the Pam & Tommy scenes generally feel like an R-rated soap opera tacked onto a larger story about piracy and the rise of internet porn.

That’s not to say the Pam & Tommy story isn’t fun. Lily James completely immerses herself in Anderson’s look and mannerisms without ever feeling like she’s doing an impression. It’s a remarkable feat of make-up and acting that feels like watching Anderson step right off the set of Baywatch and into a mini-series based on her life.

Sebastian Stan’s portrayal of Tommy Lee is a bit trickier. He imbues Tommy with a reckless charisma, but he’s often so over-the-top that it feels like an SNL impression. Then again, the real-life Tommy Lee from that era also feels like a cartoon character, so it’s hard to accuse Stan of over-acting. Either Tommy Lee is really one of the biggest assholes who has ever lived (possible) or the show wants him to be the central villain so badly that they give him almost no redeeming qualities apart from a giant schlong.

Yes, there is a talking penis

Speaking of which; in terms of tone, it’s hard to make viewers take any of this seriously when an early episode features a scene with Lee having a conversation with his own penis (perfectly voiced by Jason Mantzoukas). If the show had more of that completely bonkers energy it would be more memorable; by trying to have it both ways, it gets as mixed-up as Motley Crue’s laughable attempt at an alternative rock album we see the band promoting throughout the show. You can’t be everything to everyone.

The first three episodes of Pam & Tommy are out on February 2 via Hulu (U.S.) and Star on Disney+ (Canada). New episodes stream weekly.