Friday, April 15, 2011

MOVIE REVIEW: Meet Monica Velour

Guest blogger Liz Parker is back from an advance screening of "Meet Monica Velour" staring Kim Cattrall from Sex in the City fame. Is this Samantha all over again or something more? Let's read what Liz thinks...

"Meet Monica Velour" was not the movie I thought it would be, but it still has some humorous parts in it. It plays more like a "slice of life" movie, which I don't always enjoy, but which some people's "cup of tea."

Monica Velour (Kim Cattrall, "Sex and the City") was a porn actress in the '80s who Tobe (Dustin Ingram, TV's "Unfabulous") is obsessed with. He has all of her movies (on VHS, of course), posters, and even a scrapbook devoted to her. No one has seen or heard from her recently, however, and so she is a bit of a mystery. When he hears that she will be performing all summer at a strip club in Indiana, he HAS to go meet her; it works out that a man who wants to buy his hot dog stand/truck, the Weenie Wiz, lives in Indiana as well, and so he decides to take a road trip there. What he finds, however, is not the Monica Velour of his dreams, but rather an old and washed up version, who lives in a trailer, has co-custody of her young daughter, and is trying to find a way to make ends meet. Tobe is still dazzled by her, though, and they soon become friends.

Kim Cattrall does deliver a great performance in this movie; if I had not known her previously as Samantha Jones from "Sex and the City," I would have never made the connection, which is the mark of a great actor. Ingram reminded me a lot of Napoleon Dynamite, though with a bit more personality. There were a few supporting actors that provided some chuckles, too, such as Brian Dennehy ("Every Day") as Tobe's grandfather, and Daniel Yelsky ("A Little Help") as a precocious young neighbor of Tobe's.

Maybe see this film. If you like "slice of life" movies, you might like it, but I found most of the middle part of the movie to be a little slow. The story is definitely an interesting one, and there were a few scenes that were so awkward you couldn't help but laugh, but the film didn't captivate me like I had hoped it would; if you want a dose of Kim Cattrall, I'd recommend "Sex and the City" reruns instead.

"Meet Monica Velour" will be in Detroit-area theaters today, April 15th.


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Liz Parker is a 2009 graduate of the University of Michigan. She currently works as an Assistant Medical Editor for a pathology website. Visit her at her movie blog Yes/No Films
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