Posts Tagged ‘Meet Monica Velour’

MEET MONICA VELOUR: 3 STARS

In “Meet Monica Velour” Kim Cattrall, best known as “Sex and the City’s” iconic Samantha Jones, plays the title character, a former porn star, now a struggling, single mom. Her life changes when she befriends her biggest fan, Tobe (Dustin Ingram), an awkward eighteen-year-old boy who learns to accept her for what she is—she’s really Linda Romanoli—not for what she was.

‘You screw a few hundred guys,” Linda says, “and the whole world turns against you.”

“Meet Monica Velour” could have simply been Tobe’s coming of age story from mouth-breather to maturity, or a seedy look at a former porn star’s sad existence, or a May-December sex comedy but the quality of the performances and writing elevates it to interesting character study.

The character of Dustin is part Napoleon Dynamite, part Seymour from “Ghost World.” He’s a nerdy outsider with a passion for the past, and on the surface, an indie film staple. But Ingram dials back the eccentricity as much as the script allows, lifting the character above the level of cliché. The film could probably live without his underwear dancing scene, but the movie and its director Keith Bearden treat Tobe with respect and not just a quirky collection of personality tics.

As good as Ingram is, this is Catrall’s show. She’s left her “Sex and the City” Louboutins behind to present a rough and ready portrait of a woman on the downside of life. It’s hard not to relate Monica nee Linda’s struggles to create a life outside of her screen persona to Cattrall’s own close identification to Samantha Jones. Linda is not Monica, and Kim is not Samantha and the actress’s performance in this film should go a long way to dampening that association. If anyone sees this small indie film it should establish Cattrall as one of the more interesting performers in her age range.

I was sold on the film after one scene which feels comedic in the moment, but reveals itself to be dripping with pathos. Dustin and Linda have fought, and she’s in tears. Unsure of what to do he asks her an autograph, thinking that he’s about to be asked to leave and will likely never see her again. She flips from wounded woman to porn professional in a heartbeat and asks, “Do you want it on your underwear?”

Funny line, but not a funny situation as it reveals the tawdry way that Monica has learned to approach relationships.

“Meet Monica Velour” could have been just another idiosyncratic indie film, relying on the entertainment value of its quirky characters but Bearden and Cattrall, aided by an able supporting cast, including a scene stealing Brian Dennehy, brings real warmth to the story.

Cattrall eager for fans to see her in latest film RICHARD CROUSE Published: May 06, 2011

Meet-Monica-Velour-movie_top_t658Kim Cattrall wants you to see her new movie Meet Monica Velour.

She’s been doing a great deal of press, but hasn’t restricted herself to only talking to reporters. Her campaign to find an audience for the film includes talking to everyone who’ll listen.

“I feel like a kid passing out my CVs,” she says, relating a story about a woman who approached her at lunch asking about the name of the movie. Cattrall not only gave her the title, but told her where it was playing and how to get there.

“It’s very blissful for me to tell people about something I think is good and that they might enjoy and possibly need in the sense of it being a reflection of something in their lives.”

In Meet Monica Velour Cattrall, best known as Sex and the City’s iconic Samantha Jones, plays the title character, a former porn star, now a struggling, single mom. Her life changes when she befriends her biggest fan, an awkward 18-year-old boy who learns to accept her for what she is, not for what she was.

“I really believe this film should be seen,” she says. “I feel like such a big mouth famous, but Michael Stipe is a friend of mine, and he brought a bunch of people to see the film. A couple of them were younger and they said, ‘We’ve never seen a film like that. We really enjoyed it. It unfolded in a different way.’

“I thought, yes, it’s not about slamming you, or 3-Ding you, or out electronitizing you,” she laughs, “or whatever the words are! Welcome to stories that are about people. That are subtle and nuanced and detailed and three dimensional. Life is not always about huge meteorites heading toward your planet, it’s sometimes just about a page turn.”

The film represents a bit of a page turn for Cattrall. The glamorous star left the Louboutins behind and gained 20 pounds to play the down-on-her-luck Velour. It’s a role Cattrall has been yearning for.

“I’ve waited my whole life in some ways as an actress to say, ‘Look at me,’” she says, “not the images you cast upon me, but me. That’s fantasy. This is reality.”

It’s a reality she desperately wants to share.

“I think it’s an E-ticket because it takes me on a journey. I want to find more movies like this.”