Meet Monica Velour (2010)

Touches You

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Meet Monica Velour is important because it plays off many American anxieties about sex, which may as well be a four-letter word in American society. Sex workers are invisible in this culture, hardly seen as people, let alone portrayed as complex human beings with lives outside from their current/former job. Second chances are hard to come by and second acts are even harder to pull off—and also taboo to talk about. So here is an endearing, smart film, about Monica Velour, a former Miss January, evoking all this and more, not didactic at all, and with all the markers of a cult classic.The basic plot: Tobe (Dustin Ingram) is lanky nerdy-but-hot tall drink of water, "unconventionally" handsome young man, who lives with his granddad and finds out his triple-X celeb obsession/idol, Monica Velour (Kim Cattrall) is performing a rare live show at a skin parlor some states over. The graduate, no other life direction in mind, answers the call to adventure by taking his grad present (a frankfurter truck) and setting off to both sell the truck and woo his woman. You know, the kind of open-ended epic in the Campbell follow-your-bliss style—a little like a spiked version of Little Miss Sunshine, another film I love. As others have noted, the opening credits sequence is *incredible* —a visual feast full of puns and double entendres—and sets a high bar that the film mostly meets. Tobe's affection for Monica is good-natured, almost innocent; he lovingly maintains his treasure trove, scrapbooking-as-craft and vision-boarding, the purity of his intentions/ idealization of sex in general (and, to be sure, Monica in specific) beaming out of his pores. Tobe's gravitation to Monica (as opposed to "someone his own age") is almost natural given his "old" soul, which is something perhaps mainstream audiences don't understand. He's going after windmills and we root for him because it's more devotion than lust that motivates him.Monica turns out to be more tarnished and tired than perhaps Tobe or any "real life" man would want; her starpower and earning potential is on the wane, as she inevitably marches toward her next status an aging woman in a superficial society. Monica's role is written with depth and with no apologies for her past or current life, defying stereotypes and victimhood—she's a 3-dimensional character. Cattrall plays her really well, down to facial minutiae. My favorite moment of hers has got to be when she says, rejected after applying for a conventional job at a beauty parlor, "God, you screw a few hundred guys and the whole world turns against you." That's our unforgiving culture in a nutshell, but the film doesn't sermonize or even "take sides" between Tobe and Monica: sympathetic to both, we're just being let into their star-crossed worlds for a little while.Tobe's idea that he can "help" or "save" Monica gets its rightful interrogation; and Monica's problems with receiving help and her jadedness in the face of genuine romance are also honestly portrayed. The drama comes when Tobe cannot reify Monica any longer— when he must process what his love is, what it's really made of, and who he really is, upon meeting this real person with her own life. I would say this is a dramedy more than a comedy, and a travelogue as well. The humor (especially if you're going off of the trailer) can seem Woody Allen-esque at times (the "sexy Star Wars" clip featured has been compared to "Sleeper"), but it's more than that, and not as imitative as that comparison would let on. It's a dry, absurdist humor, a little snarky, sort of like Juno (but perhaps lower-key). Despite the titillating appearance, the film is more about, yes, coming of age than sex or anything else. "Coming of age" is a phrase that has different meanings to different people, but here it means learning about love. Sex is easy. Appreciating someone for who they really are—that's hard, and one of the lessons Tobe learns: not to put women up on pedestals, but not to swing to the other extreme either. Rather, the challenge, for all of us, is to continue to trust love, rather than get disillusioned by the prospect of being with someone who is not cosmetically 'perfect' or (even) conventionally 'desirable.' The heart wants what the heart wants, and we should be so lucky as to serve it. This is our life's work. Tobe's heroes' journey just involves some porn—who are we to judge? Visually, the film is lovely as well, rich in interesting shots, pops of color, and spot-on costuming. I really love the rich material culture this film inhabits, its use of "high" and "low" art alike, to get us (in a very subtle way) to question whether pornography can't be artistic as well—if it can't activate agape as well as eros. So, if you can relax (or look past) our culture's hang-ups about sex, this is a fine little fable about relating to people, seeing them for who they are (and not who you want them to be), and growing into yourself. I want to emphasize that the film is not smutty or vulgar, but very-lighthearted—the only time I cringed was when Pop- pop (Brian Dennehy) dipped his boiled egg in a shot of Pepto-Bismol— and ate it. That was disgusting. Sex is a healthy, natural, wonderful, and fun thing, and we should embrace it…there's just not enough sex-positive media out there, let alone any film that takes on "nontraditional" love in a sincere, open-minded, sweet and smart way. "Sex" is a three-letter word. Meet Monica Velour is a gem.Protip- Get the DVD as the commentary is very interesting, as are the deleted scenes. And because you'll want to slow down those opening credits.

With a title like 'Meet Monica Velour', one can almost be assured of some sleazy raunchy plot of a scenario and gratuitous nudity. One would be wrong; well there's some, not much, partial nudity but it is absolutely necessary in the context of the story. The storyline summary in IMDb is as much as needs to be said unless you are prepared to deal with the real and more lengthy story. The full story is much more in depth than what is superficially conveyed by the title; a better choice for a title could help this nice story to find an audience and reassure the viewer that the movie is not raunchy or sleazy. I decided to watch it because I often take a non conventional approach to picking movies; seeking gems, I watch a volume of films which inevitably means I will see duds and crap before I find those gem that make it all worthwhile. 'Meet Monica Velour' is almost one of those gems, not quite but as close as it comes to the real thing. That makes it worth a view. Why? For all the following reasons: Kim Cattrall shows that she can act, oh yes, no kidding; she is giving a performance she can be very proud of. Before this movie, I thought of Kim Cattrall as an actress who only did commercial stuff where she is a character of low morality to say it nicely, and where little acting skills were required. Here she plays a person of low morality in a way of course, but one who is honest, caring and loving while having to show the struggle of a former porn star with some brain and what she must endure later in life. It is a beautifully done piece of acting as you'll ever see; she is completely believable and garnishes sympathy from a stunned viewer like me. I dare anyone to find a smart review that says different. Then there's Dustin Ingram, who plays the main character and acquits himself with equal savvy; his character is brilliantly well depicted. There are several sweet moments and as many realistic down to earth, "real life' moments that deserved good acting and these two actors delivered. A young director by the name of Keith Bearden now has a showcase for his portfolio and one he can be proud of, both for the directing and the script.

Even with a surprisingly strong performance from Kim Cattrall (Sex and the City, Mannequin, The Ghost Writer) as the titular character, it isn't worth meeting Monica Velour. The film is too clichéd to be any good and with a Napoleon Dynamite-ish protagonist (Dustin Ingram - Sky High) parts of it are downright bad. It is ALL seen that/done that.It is a coming of age tale about the Napoleon-clone, Tobe, who graduates from high school a virgin (oh the horror!) and is gifted a Weiner food-truck by his grandfather, Pop Pop (Brian Dennehy - First Blood, Romeo + Juliet, Assault on Precinct 13) upon graduation. It must be noted that Tobe is rather ungrateful for the gift which makes it difficult for him and the film to win-over a viewer ("oh the kid's un-imaginable plight!")To give Tobe a bit of originality, he adores vintage porn with one actress from the early 80's in particular -- Monica Velour. When he decides to sell his Weiner truck AND finds out that Ms. Velour is performing a special engagement near the buyer's location (oh the convenience!!!), Tobe roadtrips to Indiana to meet the woman of his dreams. What he discovers is that Ms. Velour is rather washed-up and jaded (and old) ... although she does initially fancy the young man's flirtations. Again -- it is ALL seen that/done that before. Tobe is supposed to come across as a pure innocent who wants/longs to help this damsel in distress; but his initial inability to listen to reason and wisdom offered up by the sage elder he is selling his truck to (Keith David - Platoon, Crash, There's Something About Mary) annoys.The film goes exactly where you'd expect it to go ... nothing more, nothing less ... except for a most-unfortunate scene from FORMERLY respected film-vet Dennehy. :( ... yes, that's a sad face. If I could type tears, they'd be there too.

"Why can't you like normal stuff like everybody else?" Toby is a nerd. He likes things no one else does like 1920's music, but his favorite thing of all is former adult film star Monica Velour (Cattrall). After his Grandfather (Dennehy) insults him one too many times Toby decides to leave, and meets Monica. This is the type of movie that when you watch you like it, but when its over and you look back on it you start to like it more and more. I snickered a few times watching, but when I remember the lines and context I laugh harder. This movie is a surprisingly sweet coming of age tale about a boy on his way up and a woman on her way down. I have a bad habit of, for lack of a better word, over-simplifying a review by comparing it to movies people have heard of. That said...this movie is a cross between "Napolean Dynamite" and "Boogie Nights". If Napolean met the Julianna Moore character from "Boogie Nights" you would have this movie. I will have to say the Kim Cattrall is the perfect choice for this movie and while not being the total opposite of Samantha she is more of a burnt out version of that character. I would love to see at least a Golden Globe nomination for her for this, but I doubt that will happen. Overall, a good movie that will grow on you. I give it a B Would I watch again? - I think I might*Also try - Elektra Luxx