Average Rating: 5.8/10
Reviews Counted: 36
Fresh: 21 | Rotten: 15
Excellent performances by Michelle Monaghan and Nathan Fillion and keenly-observed details of small town life elevate this otherwise predictable and inconsistent melodrama.
Average Rating: 5.8/10
Critic Reviews: 14
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 6
Excellent performances by Michelle Monaghan and Nathan Fillion and keenly-observed details of small town life elevate this otherwise predictable and inconsistent melodrama.
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Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 1,358
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Michelle Monaghan stars as a self-reliant trucker forced to take on the responsibility of caring for her 11-year-old son when his father (Benjamin Bratt) ends up in the hospital in this independent drama from Plum Pictures. James Mottern directs from his own script, with Nathan Fillion, Joey Lauren Adams, and Jimmy Bennett set to co-star. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi
Oct 9, 2009 Wide
Jan 5, 2010
Monterey Media Inc.
All Critics (38) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (22) | Rotten (15) | DVD (1)
Trucker is a knockout.
You know exactly what is going to happen and you don't really care.
Most of Trucker comes off like a sincere but totally artificial slice of life.
There are so many wonderfully unconventional things to like about this tiny independent film, Monaghan's earthy and uncompromising performance chief among them, its depth surprising you at every turn.
Monaghan, so good in Gone Baby Gone, mopes self-consciously through the role of Diane, a loner who finds her heart when she's thrown together with her estranged 11-year-old son (Jimmy Bennett), whom she takes on the road. Yes, it's one of those movies.
Monaghan gets how people with honky-tonk souls move in mysterious ways.
The movie is a shining star in the indie universe much like "Frozen River." It hits the nail on the head in dealing with real feelings and honest emotions.
Who knew Michelle Monaghan could pull-off one of the most fearless and edgy female roles of the year? And do it so convincingly.
Good characters and a strong start run out of gas by the end
Unremarkable at best, remarkably bad at worst.
Like mother like son
The overall story serves as a metaphor for American life, where too many people spend a lot of time keeping busy without ever really enjoying the moment and without ever being truly alive.
Monaghan demonstrates an untapped level of talent and skill in Trucker, tackling the difficult role of a woman who refuses to behave as societal norms dictate and has paid the price with loneliness and alienation.
The whole thing plays with wobbly craft that, finally, creates a deep patina of suspicion and dullness.
The only thing to take away from this bumpy ride is the smooth performance by Monaghan.
Monaghan's good, despite being too pretty, and the film, with a melodramatic storyline that seems perfect for a Hallmark TV movie, is good, too.
Features spectacular performances but these excellent actors are required to do too much heavy lifting with a script that plays out too predictably to be effective.
You want to like Trucker. You really do. But writer-director James Mottern makes it awfully hard with his washed-out, predictable aesthetic.
A nostalgic rehashing of the days when movies didn't need to telegraph every last detail.
With the sad state of the indie business Trucker may make a fast exit to Netflix, but thanks to Michelle Monaghan it's a trip worth taking wherever you may find it.
The only flaw of the film is that halfway through, you already know the ending. Still, by knowing, the film is so well made that it pulls you in and makes you want to stick around and await the inevitable ending. Michelle Monaghan pulls off an Oscar-Worthy performance as "Diane Ford", and the rest of the solid cast
January 1, 2011Super Reviewer
This film has at its core a really overused plot - the estranged young son forced to re-unite with a parent, who then, after a bumpy ride, learn to love each other. But by its gritty, low down tone, somehow the film manages to keep from becomming overy maudlin. What keeps Trucker afloat is indeed the portrayal of a
October 19, 2010
Super Reviewer
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