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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 comments; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 >> >|
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N/R

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

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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

An overtly earnest, mopey first feature.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
05/01/03
E! Online
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N/R

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Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
05/23/03
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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N/R

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

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Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
07/22/03
Deseret News, Salt Lake City
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Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

An impressive first effort from Ms. Moncrieff, but the eternal Aristotelian in me finds it depressing to watch characters always walking around in moral quicksand.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
06/11/03
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer

The performances here top-notch across the board.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
07/29/02
Annlee Ellingson
Annlee Ellingson
Boxoffice Magazine

This film is ultimately disappointing if not only for the lack of originality in the final scenes.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/08/02
Anthony Miele
Anthony Miele
Film Threat

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

Worth watching for the coming-out party of Agnes Bruckner, a relative newcomer who shows her mettle with an extraordinary performance in this very ordinary tear-jerker.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
06/12/03
Bill Muller
Bill Muller
Arizona Republic

A cozy, well-made vehicle without the capacity to carry everything that writer-director Karen Moncrieff piles into it.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
05/02/03
Bob Campbell
Bob Campbell
Newark Star-Ledger

In its studied, naturalistic way, the movie can nonetheless resemble a week of Oprah sobfests.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
05/02/03
Bob Strauss
Bob Strauss
Los Angeles Daily News

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)

From the rain-streaked windshield to the unaffected line readings from a stellar cast, there is not a shot in Blue Car that doesn't ring true.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
05/16/03
C.W. Nevius
C.W. Nevius
San Francisco Chronicle

It's rare that a movie makes a viewer experience the psychodynamics of an encounter so profoundly -- usually theater is a better medium for that -- but Moncrieff has exceptional skills.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment Comment
05/23/03
Carrie Rickey
Carrie Rickey
Philadelphia Inquirer

Blue Car may not be in the category of a classic, but it's certainly not a total wreck (more like a fixer-upper that's serviceable).

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
05/02/03
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com

The strength of the movie -- which makes sure to show the pressures its characters face, so that all of them are weak but none of them is a villain -- is its recognition of the strength within Meg.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
05/23/03
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by comments; UK critics are listed first)
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Latest News for Blue Car

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