Meet Monica Velour

Wow, who knew? "Meet Monica Velour" turned out to be a rather unique and charming comedy unlike most other teenage comedies. And while it may not be the type of comedy that will have you laughing your heart out, it is the type of movie that sinks right into the heart and sticks with you.

The story is about 17 year old Tobe Hobert (played by Dustin Ingram), an awkward teenager who travels across USA in an old hot dog vendor van to see a rare performance by Monica Velour (played by Kim Cattrall), his favorite porn star from the 1980s. An odd friendship blossoms between the smitten teenager and the struggling former porn actress.

It is the odd and unique storyline that makes "Meet Monica Velour" such an enjoyable movie, and the permeated sense of real life as well. But also the amazing performances by Dustin Ingram and Kim Cattrall.

"Meet Monica Velour" was really a surprise of a movie, and I was genuinely entertained by the story and performances.

If you haven't seen this fabulous movie, then you should really take yourself an hour and a half to watch "Meet Monica Velour". This movie scores a rock-solid seven out of ten stars from me.

So what happens to the sexual acrobats from porn's so-called Golden Age, the 70's and early 80's? Like Marilyn Chambers, Linda Lovelace, Tracy Lords? In an inspired bit of casting, Kim Cattrall, is playing Monica Velour, who was a former centerfold and star of porn classics such as "Saturday Night Beaver" and "Frankenbooty" (the titles and cover art of her porn filmography is rather hilarious) but is now trying to get gigs stripping in decrepit titty bars in rural Indiana, where she lives in a trailer. Kim would strike it big as the perpetually horny Samantha in "Sex and the City" although men of a certain age will best remember her as a hot gym teacher in "Porky's" nicknamed "Lassie" because she loved to have sex in the gym laundry room where the smell of stinky jockstraps while engaging in coitus would eventually get her howling.

Tobe, a way too typical nerdish 17 yr old drives to IN to meet his favorite porn star, although one wonders how in the world he would have discovered her. Not much happens in this, there's a sub-plot about Monica wanting to get custody of her young daughter and of course Tobe ends up losing his virginity to Monica, not a bad way to start, even if Monica Velour is a bit overweight, jaded and quite disheveled by this point in life. Could have been better if they hadn't gone too far over the top with Tobe's character, copying "Napoleon Dynamite" Kim Cattrall turns in a great performance.

Looked at as a whole, Meet Monica Velour is missing some key elements that would make audience members walk away saying, "Wow." The cinematography reminds me of riding in the car with my 85 year old grandfather when I was a kid...it feels like you're not even moving. The director seems to have been too much of a rule-follower, as if he was following class notes in numerical order. However, the cast was wisely chosen and the poor technical issues of the film can be overlooked because of the commitment of the actors. It's possible to get lost in a story, to forget about the poor technical issues, if the story is well told - that's what happened in Meet Monica Velour. In particular, Kim Cattrall is so convincing in this lead role, so enveloped in this character, that one might begin to wonder if and why Hollywood shut her out so early. This film proves that they could have had another Meryl Streep on their hands, and they let her go. I'm certain the producers of Meet Monica Velour are thankful that they did.

So here i am wandering through my local video store looking for something good to watch and i stumble across Meet Monica Velour, judging from the cover and the description on the back i was expecting the usual silly sex comedy, boy was i wrong.

Meet Monica Velour is exceptional, at times hilarious, at times awkward, at times heartbreaking. And it is all thanks to a fearless performance from Kim Cattrall, she is just down right amazing as this extremely damaged character. Never have i seen her better, she is as much this character as she is Samantha from SATC. The fact that she can immortalize a character such as Samantha and then do something completely different like this is the making of a truly great actress, and also a shamefully under-rated one.

The story is wonderful, the super nerd of a small town finally gets the chance to meet his favourite porn star only to realize that her life is very different than what he imagined it would be, cue a friendship like no other i've seen in film. After i realized that this movie was totally different than what i thought it was going to be i then had the though "oh this is going to be a sappy feel good story", wrong again, this is a totally original story that doesn't have a scrap of cliché at all.

I hope this movie finds a wide audience, its so deserving, Kim Cattrall needs to be in more great movies like this...... She's so great to watch.

See it, you'll love it....... ;)

I am not one for either reading reviews or writing them. I did however sign up with IMDb just now to recommend this movie and posit that Kim Cattrall should easily have taken home a best actor award of some sort for her work in it. For those who have seen the movie or those who will see it, there is a scene (and you will know which one I mean) toward the end that is absolutely breath-taking. I have not seen something that honest and powerful in a movie in a very very long time. I get a chill just thinking about it now. I think as we get older we forget about the tug we felt inside when we first fell in love. We might even block it on purpose because it is frightening and beautiful and very powerful all at the same time. When I watched this film I knew where that feeling was and that it doesn't ever really go away. In a cinematic sea of pop-romance films, this one digs down much deeper. Kim Cattrall makes you want to be her hero. Her performance is just that special.