Meet Monica Velour (2010)

If you're looking for Samantha from Sex and the City, forget it. Kim Cattrall shows her acting chops and plays an entirely different character here. This film is held together by Cattrall; in fact, until she shows up, it is difficult to watch. Once she appears though, the film starts picking up and ends up worth watching.

Cattrall plays Monica Velour, an over the hill porn star who is short on money and energy. She wants to get custody of her daughter, but with a jerk of an ex-husband hellbent on on putting her down, Velour can see no other options but to go back to stripping and porn. Meanwhile in the state of Washington, Tobe (played by Dustin Ingram), is a 17 year old who likes old music and 70s porn starring Monica. Living with his grandfather, he sees very few options for himself after graduating from High School until he happens to see that Monica will be stripping at a nightclub in Indiana. Not caring that she is some 20-30 years older from the peak of her porn career, Tobe embarks on a road trip to Indiana to finally meet her in person. The movie goes back and forth from heavy-hitting/unpredictable to sweet/predictable; the relationship between these two unlikely people is fascinating to watch, thanks to Cattrall's performance. Ingram plays the part of an extremely awkward teen well, but it is difficult not to think of Napoleon Dynamite; Ingram's character seems to be entirely patterned after him. The ending is fairly satisfying, although it does seem a little rushed and clipped together. I could have used a few more scenes about Monica and her journey before seeing a photo of a postcard that signifies a rushed (and somewhat unlikely) happy ending for her.

Good quality image and sound on this one, but the Blu-ray is very light when it comes to special features. Included are a few deleted scenes (which are actually enjoyable and probably should have been put back in) and an audio commentary by writer/director Keith Bearden and Cattrall.

Enjoyable if uneven movie that had it been better, could have made Cattrall an Oscar contender.

I watched this film a while back. It bothered me for a few days after watching it. It stayed with me, I'm not quite sure if in a good way or a bad way, but it did. The longer I thought about it though, the more I thought that this was perhaps the best thing Kim Catrall has ever done.

Tobe (Dustin Ingram) is a teenager about to graduate from high school. With no friends except for the next door neighbor kid, he's a loner, running the hot dog wagon his grandfather (Brian Dennehy) has him work or spending time in his room watching "classic" porn films that star his favorite actress, Monica Velour (Catrall). Determined not to spend his days selling wieners after his grandfather gives him the truck for graduation, he decides to sell it online.

Fortune smiles on young Tobe has a buyer offers to take the weiny wagon off his hands. Better yet, the town this buyer lives in is going to have a personal appearance by Monica Velour at a local strip joint. Anxious to meet his celluloid heroine, Dustin hits the road. The first stop is the strip joint where he's chatted up by a floozy who works there while waiting for Monica.

When Monica hits the stage she's different but not in Tobe's eyes. Instead of the young starlet, Monica has passed over the 40 year mark, gained a few pounds and is not the image seen on the small screen. Some punks in the club make a few comments about her looks which inspire Tobe to defend her. The result is his being beaten up, having his wagon spray painted and Monica losing this small gig.

Monica takes Tobe home with her to mend him up. Her location leaves less to be desired, a mobile home that's seen better days. Drunk and beaten, Tobe falls asleep and she allows him to stay.

What follows is a bittersweet love story of sorts with Tobe fulfilling his life long dream of meeting a woman he thinks of as the epitome of all things female. Unfortunately Monica isn't the least bit interested in Tobe. And she is far from perfect, instead having a drug habit and being in the midst of a custody battle for her daughter, a little girl who means the world to her but who her ex uses as a tool to extract anything he can from Monica.

Along the way Tobe gets a few words of wisdom from the man who wants to by the wagon, an artist named Claude (Keith David). This is someone who has seen the world and the good things it has to offer. Tobe misinterprets the advice he receives but in the end it works out for the best.

The film definitely qualifies as quirky but it has a heart in its center, even though the main character is a faded porn star. The life lessons learned not just by Tobe but by Monica as well make this story interesting but heartrending at the same time. We're offered a world where dreams don't come true, where bad guys win the big prize and where very little good happens.

A happy ending does finalize the film but it feels like ZAP it's there and all's well that ends well. The problem is while we've spent 90 minutes discovering how bad things can be, turning them around in the last 8 just leaves you feeling spent.

The best thing about this movie though is Catrall. She's made better movies in the past, early in her career with TRIBUTE and later hit stardom with SEX AND THE CITY. But here she gets the chance to show a deeper character than she's usually allowed. And Monica Velour is not someone you're likely to forget. It won't gain her the notice of the Oscar committee, but fans should make a point to see her in this film.

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