Review of Trucker (2008) by Andy S — 16 Jan 2010

I was totally rooting for Michelle Monaghan to succeed in this. I think I've seen her in exactly two movies, one of which I hated, but she's against Hollywood type and has a certain demure, intelligent appeal. That makes it all the more upsetting to say that she's one of the big problems in Trucker, often not able to get around the ridiculously hokey script she's served. I can't imagine her taking the script for any reason other to challenge herself, and though her bravery is appreciated, the performance is inconsistent. Watching her spit out "man" after "dude" in her scratchy faux-roughness is an almost painful experience. I think she has the tools to do better work than this, even in the context of similar subject matter, as she seems to have a fairly impressive command of physicality and facial expression; watching her storm across the street in her underwear to beat up a couple of punks who bullied her son is one of the movie's indelible highlights. Scattered moments like those are what kept me plowing through the movie's pervasive mediocrity - neither looking nor sounding particularly interesting, and not putting anything new on the table in any of its subgenres ("Hard-Luck Woman", "Reunited With Child"), Trucker finds itself teetering on the edge of the forgotten indie flicks abyss. Monaghan's support is generally good, with a reliable performance from Nathan Fillion in his wheel house. How many times has he given us this angle before? When Castle is the biggest stretch of character on your IMDB page, there's a definite problem afoot. Benjamin Bratt is effective in his sparse few scenes, and Jimmy Bennett is a surprise. The kid's a total shit, and the movie's lack of clarity as to why makes it difficult to find sympathy for him, but at least he works his assignment convincingly.

Actually, that ambiguity is one of Trucker's strengths. The characters may be a little broad at times, but James Mottern never lets on as to why these people behave like they do, or what brought them to their current circumstances. Considering the rest of the movie's expository heaviness, the unusual mysteries behind Diane and her son are basically what propel the movie into watchability. Ultimately I was a little disappointed with Trucker, as it's a lot more conventional than I would have hoped for, and not quite the star-making turn from Monaghan that people like Ebert had trumpeted. Still, it's not terrible, and if you're interested in the subject matter then a watch can't hurt.