Tobe (Dustin Ingram) is an awkward teenager that spends his time selling hotdogs from his Weenie Wiz mobile and watching old ’80s porn staring Monica Velour AKA Linda Romanoli (Kim Cattrall). Velour’s fame has long since expired, forcing the now 49-year-old single mother to take small-time jobs at sleazy strip clubs. Learning about one of Velour’s performances Tobe sets out to meet his celebrity crush. The years haven’t been kind to the former superstar but Tobe still sees her as the woman of his dreams.
Tobe is sort of a Napoleon Dynamite with his small-town roots, quirky personality and curly hair but Meet Monica Velour is a decidedly different film from Napoleon Dynamite as it adopts a darker, more realistic tone. In fact, Meet Monica Velour’s themes are far closer to The Wrestler than your traditional oddball comedy. It’s still too goofy to be taken completely seriously, but it is nice to see some substance in a film that easily could have been complete fluff.
Director/writer Keith Bearden has done a commendable job with his first feature film and Cattrall sets aside the glamour of her Sex and the City persona for a refreshingly unappealing role that suggests that she’s a better actress than I previously thought. Ingram’s Tobe doesn’t have the same amount of depth of Cattrall’s Velour but ultimately this is due to the character’s youth rather than a poor performance. Meet Monica Velour is a little too naïve and optimistic to be life changing but it still makes for a solid film.
Anchor Bay’s Blu-ray release of Meet Monica Velour has nice sense of depth, detail and colors are fairly vibrant. It’s a little grimy but it suits the film perfectly. Bonus features include a nice commentary from Bearden and Cattrall and a handful of deleted scenes that would have made the film raunchier and Tobe a less sympathetic character.