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Blue Car

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Blue Car (2003)

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Reviews Counted:85

Fresh:69

Rotten:16

Average Rating:6.9/10

Consensus: A cautionary tale that rings true.

Runtime: 88 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Agnes Bruckner delivers an impressive, assured performance with BLUE CAR, an affecting coming-of-age drama from Karen Moncrieff. Bruckner is Meg, a beautiful teenager who is desperate to find... Agnes Bruckner delivers an impressive, assured performance with BLUE CAR, an affecting coming-of-age drama from Karen Moncrieff. Bruckner is Meg, a beautiful teenager who is desperate to find inspiration and guidance in her otherwise tumultuous life. At an early age, her father left her family behind. Now, there is only her edgy mother, Diane (Margaret Colin), and her increasingly aloof younger sister, Lily (Regan Arnold). Salvation appears to arrive in the presence of Mr. Auster (David Strathairn), Meg's reserved English teacher who takes an interest in Meg's poetry. It isn't long before both Meg and Mr. Auster begin to take an interest in each other, and as an approaching national poetry competition brings the two closer together, deeper feelings emerge. But Meg eventually learns a painful secret about Mr. Auster, which shatters her impressions of the man, and threatens to push her over the edge forever. Moncrieff, a former television actress turned writer-director, turns her potentially formulaic material into ultimately moving entertainment. This can be attributed to the performances of her lead actors. As the conflicted Meg, Bruckner is a perfect blend of budding sexuality and adolescent bitterness. As her damaged teacher, Strathairn is at turns deeply comforting and crushingly evil. [More]

Starring: David Strathairn, Agnes Bruckner, Margaret Colin, Frances Fisher

Starring: David Strathairn, Agnes Bruckner, Margaret Colin, Frances Fisher, Regan Arnold

Director: Karen Moncrieff

Director: Karen Moncrieff
Screenwriter: Karen Moncrieff
Producer: Peer J. Oppenheimer, Amy Sommer, David Waters
Composer: Adam Gorgoni
Studio: Miramax Films

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Reviews for Blue Car

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 >> >|
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
06/14/03
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
10/24/02
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
04/01/09
David Rooney
David Rooney
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
05/26/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

...falters because it hews too closely to the witless cant of the average guy as a potential sex criminal.

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
01/07/05
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Though the story is fragile, Bruckner’s superlative acting registers Meg’s feelings with the dead-on accuracy of an emotional geiger counter.

Full Review Source: Boulder Weekly | comment Comment
02/09/04
Thomas Delapa
Thomas Delapa
Boulder Weekly

Vivid performances . . . the film's warmly luminous look and the richly rendered view of a troubled but talented teen's struggles with the adult world sustain the film.

Full Review Source: Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada) | comment Comment
12/01/03
Brian Gibson
Brian Gibson
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)

Cuts both ways: the poetry and the acting were hot, the story and the cinematography were not so hot.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
10/23/03
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

I found this movie fascinating -- but not an easy one to sit through. It's seems excruciatingly real.

Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews | comment Comment
09/27/03
Betty Jo Tucker
Betty Jo Tucker
ReelTalk Movie Reviews

At the film's center Bruckner more than holds her own, beautifully capturing the anger, uncertainty and yearnings of an unhappy kid impatient for her 'real' life to begin.

Full Review Source: Kansas City Star | comment Comment
09/12/03
Robert W. Butler
Robert W. Butler
Kansas City Star
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
07/22/03
Deseret News, Salt Lake City
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Moncrieff, though seemingly incapable of lacing a story with surprises, writes snappy dialogue.

Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
07/18/03
Phil Villarreal
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

The truest depiction I have ever seen on film of how children grow up with divorced parents. Hollywood blockbuster hype notwithstanding, this is actually the must-see movie of the summer.

Full Review Source: Offoffoff | comment Comment
07/15/03
Joshua Tanzer
Joshua Tanzer
Offoffoff

Painful to watch, yet it never sinks to melodrama.

Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment Comment
07/14/03
Jim Lane
Jim Lane
Sacramento News & Review

Moncrieff grabs us with details and dialogue so authentic ... that she often makes us feel as if we're standing on our toes and peering in the window of one of our neighbors.

Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee | comment Comment
07/11/03
Joe Baltake
Joe Baltake
Sacramento Bee
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
07/02/03
Boston Phoenix
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
07/02/03
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters

Blue Car boasts great talent in Bruckner, Straithairn and Moncrieff... [but] that talent isn't enough to get over the obstacles in the movie's second half.

Full Review Source: Salt Lake Tribune | comment Comment
07/02/03
Sean Means
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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