Trucker

 

Reviewed 6 October 2009 by Ted Faraone

 

Four stars out of five; $10 ticket on a scale of $0 to $12.

 

MISFITS OF THE WORLD, UNITE!  YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT YOUR MISERY

 

“Trucker,” the debut feature from helmer James Mottern (who also gets writer credit), has a modest budget estimated at $2 million.  It shows.  The print your critic saw looked like a television picture blown up for the big screen.  It was pixilated.  It’s unfortunate, because other than that pic is excellent.

 

Michelle Monaghan stars as Diane Ford, a 30-ish long-haul trucker living somewhere in California.  Benjamin Bratt, in an atypical role, is her dying ex-husband.  Jimmy Bennett is their 11-year-old, whom mom abandoned at infancy.  W.C. Fields advised colleagues never to play opposite kids or animals.  Monaghan deserves kudos for not letting Bennett steal any scenes.  That she is stunning no matter how dressed down doesn’t hurt.  She looks a tad like Liv Tyler before the latter gained weight.

 

Pic starts out as a test of wills between misfits.  Bennett is dumped on Monaghan’s doorstep due to Bratt’s illness.  She doesn’t want him.  He cramps her style.  He doesn’t want her.  Kid has amazing ability to give the silent treatment.  “I don’t talk to bitches,” he tells his mom – whom he sees for the first time in a decade.  He lives in an exoskeleton.  It’s a cloaking device.  He really wants attention.  He wants his mother to love him, but he won’t admit it.  A few long trips with mom, who lacks a sitter, make that clear. 

 

To Mottern’s credit, he wastes little time navel gazing.  Most of the story is told in action – some of it fairly impressive – such as a scene in which mother Monaghan takes down two lowlifes who put her kid in the emergency room for sport.  One had better not cross her.

 

Gradually a bond develops between the pair.  The bond leads to pic’s only totally predictable moment.  A lowlife attempts to rape Monaghan.  The kid is on his way home carrying a baseball bat from his little league game – in one of pic’s few continuity gaffes.  Of course, auds know immediately that said bat will be put to good use on mom’s behalf.

 

Bratt shines in what little screen time he gets.  He makes the love backstory between his character and Monaghan’s Diane credible.  Nathan Fillion (Runner) is compelling as the neighbor who carries a torch for Diane and has a way with the boy. 

 

Sound recording could be better.  A few pivotal lines are inaudible.  Other tech credits are satisfactory.  Editing by Deirdre Slevin is to the point.  At 93 minutes, pic moves at a good clip.  It carries an “R” rating due to language and one of filmdom’s more impressive scenes of cowgirl sex.

 

--30--

 

 

Photos, top to bottom:  The poster with Monaghan at the wheel, Monaghan and Bennett, Fillion, and doe-eyed Monaghan;  Monaghan teaches Bennett how to hit a baseball.