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Movies / On DVD / Trucker
Trucker

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Trucker (2009)

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Reviews Counted:30

Fresh:17

Rotten:13

Average Rating:5.6/10

Consensus: Excellent performances by Michelle Monaghan and Nathan Fillion and keenly-observed details of small town life elevate this otherwise predictable and inconsistent melodrama.

Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Diane Ford (Michelle Monaghan), a vivacious and successful independent truck driver, leads a carefree life of long-haul trucking, one night stands and all-night drinking with Runner (Nathan... Diane Ford (Michelle Monaghan), a vivacious and successful independent truck driver, leads a carefree life of long-haul trucking, one night stands and all-night drinking with Runner (Nathan Fillion, Serenity, Waitress, "Castle") until the evening her estranged 11-year-old son, Peter (Jimmy Bennett, young James Kirk in Star Trek) is unexpectedly dropped at her door.

Peter hasn't seen his mother since he was a baby and wants to live with Diane as little as she wants him, but they are stuck with each other - at least for now, while his father Len (Benjamin Bratt) is in the hospital.

Burdened with this new responsibility and seeing the life of freedom she's fought for now jeopardized, Diane steps reluctantly into her past and looks sidelong at an uncharted future that is not as simple or straightforward as she had once believed possible. --© Monterey Media [More]

Starring: Michelle Monaghan, Nathan Fillion, Benjamin Bratt, Joey Lauren Adams

Starring: Michelle Monaghan, Nathan Fillion, Benjamin Bratt, Joey Lauren Adams, Jimmy Bennett

Director: James Mottern

Director: James Mottern
Screenwriter: James Mottern
Producer: Celine Rattray, Galt Niederhoffer, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Scott Hanson
Composer: Mychael Danna
Studio: Monterrey Media

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Reviews for Trucker

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Even with some fine acting, this film can be a long tiring ride.

Full Review Source: Screen International | comment Comment
10/18/08
David D'Arcy
David D'Arcy
Screen International

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.

Full Review Source: Miami Herald | comment Comment
10/29/09
Rene Rodriguez
Rene Rodriguez
Miami Herald

Trucker is a knockout.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
10/23/09
Cary Darling
Cary Darling
Dallas Morning News

The whole thing plays with wobbly craft that, finally, creates a deep patina of suspicion and dullness.

Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
10/23/09
Shawn Levy
Shawn Levy
Oregonian

The only thing to take away from this bumpy ride is the smooth performance by Monaghan.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
10/23/09
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

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 Source: About.com | comment Comment
10/21/09
Marcy Dermansky
Marcy Dermansky
About.com

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.

Full Review Source: Movie Retriever | comment Comment
10/21/09
Brian Tallerico
Brian Tallerico
Movie Retriever

You know exactly what is going to happen and you don’t really care.

Full Review Source: At the Movies | comment Comment
10/19/09
A.O. Scott
A.O. Scott
At the Movies

Most of Trucker comes off like a sincere but totally artificial slice of life.

Full Review Source: At the Movies | comment Comment
10/19/09
Michael Phillips
Michael Phillips
At the Movies

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 Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
10/16/09
Betsy Sharkey
Betsy Sharkey
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
10/14/09
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly

You want to like Trucker. You really do. But writer-director James Mottern makes it awfully hard with his washed-out, predictable aesthetic.

Full Review Source: New York Press | comment Comment
10/14/09
Mark Peikert
Mark Peikert
New York Press

A nostalgic rehashing of the days when movies didn't need to telegraph every last detail.

Full Review Source: Critic's Notebook | comment Comment
10/09/09
Robert Levin
Robert Levin
Critic's Notebook

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 Source: Back Stage | comment Comment
10/09/09
Pete Hammond
Pete Hammond
Back Stage

Monaghan gets how people with honky-tonk souls move in mysterious ways.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
10/09/09
Joe Neumaier
Joe Neumaier
New York Daily News

Michelle Monaghan delivers the goods.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
10/09/09
Stephen Farber
Stephen Farber
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The vehicle (if you will pardon the pun) doesn’t quite know what to do with her character. And so the movie, the first feature written and directed by James Mottern, turns into a conventional mother-child reunion drama.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
10/09/09
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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 Source: MTV | comment Comment
10/09/09
Kurt Loder
Kurt Loder
MTV

Monaghan does a reasonably good job with a formulaic script that calls for her to become prettier and more feminine as she learns to be a mama bear to her smart-mouthed but ultimately adorable kid.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
10/09/09
Kyle Smith
Kyle Smith
New York Post

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 Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
10/08/09
Stephen Whitty
Stephen Whitty
Newark Star-Ledger
 
 
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