Trucker Reviews
Entertainment Spectrum
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.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
ReelTalk Movie Reviews
Who knew Michelle Monaghan could pull-off one of the most fearless and edgy female roles of the year? And do it so convincingly.
Laramie Movie Scope
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.
Full Review
| Original Score: B+
Top CriticMonaghan 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.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Trucker is a knockout.
| Original Score: 4/5
About.com
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.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
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.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Critic's Notebook
A nostalgic rehashing of the days when movies didn't need to telegraph every last detail.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Back Stage
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.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Monaghan gets how people with honky-tonk souls move in mysterious ways.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
MTV
Monaghan conveys the character's boxed-in emotional conflicts through a flickering wariness and constricted body language. Diane seems hopeless, but the actress keeps us holding onto hope for her anyway.
Full Review
| Original Score: 7/10
Even if the film dutifully hits all the old notes, its characters are interesting, its California desert setting is novel, and its cast works hard. And not only is its star trying something new -- she's getting it wonderfully right.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
I concede the story arc is fairly predictable, assuming neither one murders the other. But Mottern and his actors take no hostages.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/4
Slant Magazine
In his tough-minded commitment to both his characters and to their lower-middle-class milieu, the filmmaker recasts his potentially disastrous material into something that feels emotionally honest, if not exactly revelatory.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
As the camera perches high on a hill at dawn, Diane's truck sneaking out of town, you sense the Demme-esque working-class comedy that might have been.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
Thanks to sensitive direction and a natural, exemplary script, both of which by the talented and never syrupy James Mottern, Trucker holds its emotions firmly in check throughout.
There may as well be a road sign announcing Diane's transformation from reckless loner to diligent mother, but it's a smooth ride thanks to Monaghan, and an impressive ensemble.
Hollywood & Fine
Michelle Monaghan gives a wonderfully rounded performance, reminiscent in its depth and heart of the one Melissa Leo gave in Frozen River.
Boxoffice Magazine
Maintains the gritty realistic details of Diane's job and small town life.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
Cinematical
It's still a performance you don't want a miss. Michelle Monaghan is memorable.
