Meet Monica Velour

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.

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 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.

Kim Cattrall flexes her acting muscles in a whole new direction with much success in this surprisingly original film expertly written and directed by Keith Bearden. Dustin Ingram is the ideal combination of nerd and charm as Tobe Holbert, while Brian Dennehy is fun as Tobe's father (aka "Pop Pop"). Keith David provides a breath of fresh air from all the quirkiness as Claude, an amiable and wise character. I saw this at an opening in Chicago which was attended by Dustin Ingram and included a Skyped interview with Keith Bearden post-showing. I was delighted to find that Bearden is just as much of a cool character in real life as the ones he created for the screen, while Ingram maintains a genuine sweetness and vulnerability. Meet Monica Velour is definitely a well spent 98 minutes.

Kim Cattrall has had a long career as a sex kitten, but despite having seen her in various vehicles over the years, I really only suspected she was deeper and more knowing than she lets on. We men have an instinctive love for her, I don't really know why, but I can tell you it's mysterious and unmistakable, almost as if she'd been bestowed some divine quality meant just for us. But maybe not, she doesn't seem to lack for female friends, or is that just an illusion? This little movie must have been pitched to her as a good way to say goodbye to all lingering sex kitten expectations. It's rough on her former image as an four-star temptress, but oddly enough, by its end, I think I liked her even more than I had before seeing it, and that's no small accomplishment. Does she look old in this? Yes, there are many unflattering shots. But, believe me, they serve the story and they serve it well. Halfway through I thought to myself, you can have your Meryl Streeps, I can't remember appreciating a performance as much as I did this one. I was enthralled and it felt almost as if it was all meant only for me. How can that be?

I'm not sure how to express what it's about. She's a washed up porn star living in a trailer who meets her greatest fan, a 17 year old geek played beautifully by Dustin Ingram. This is not a perfect picture, I'm not sure what ordinary women will make of it, but it tries for something so real and familiar to so many men, it deserved much more praise than it got. And I for one think her fellow actresses must harbor some envy for the sheer indelible nature of her performance here. Or they should though whatever she's got, for the most part they have little chance of beating it.