Trucker

Reviewer: Dylan de Thomas
Rating (out of 5): ***

A somewhat misguided marriage between Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and Monte Hellman's Two Lane Blacktop (but with trucks), James Mottern's Trucker deserves credit for trying. Trying to cast an eye at an underreported and underappreciated vocation; trying to represent the working class with some measure of verisimilitude; and trying to present a very good actress with a starring, er, vehicle at a time when good female leads in dramas are few and far between.

The movie's primary issue is its very concept – that a somewhat troubled, hard living, frankly beautiful young woman would choose and, apparently, thrive as a long-haul, sixteen-wheel-driving trucker. And through the terrific performance of Michelle Monaghan (Gone Baby Gone) I shook my head in disbelief that this young woman was driving a semi.

But while my incredulity kept inconveniently bubbling to the surface, I still got caught up in the narrative and the strong supporting performances, especially the criminally-underappreciated (beyond the over-the-top rabid cult following, of course) Nathan Fillion, who plays a ne'er-do-well neighbor/love interest of the Monaghan's trucker. The central plot of the film follows the touchy reconnection of Monaghan and her adolescent son, who she abandoned when he was an infant. The characters inhabiting Trucker aren't the most sympathetic, but there's enough charm and good looks to keep the viewer engaged.

Mottern, whose first film this is, draws excellent performances from the players, mostly in the emo-realist mode, and the film is given a beautiful dusty sheen by cinematographer Lawrence Sher, with perhaps one or two too many rack focus/fast pull zooms, but no more than anyone else seems to use these days. When all is said and done, Trucker is a more than decent indie deserving of your time – and marks Mottern as a director to watch – though Roger Ebert must have a pretty strong sentimental streak to place it on his best of 2009 list. But while Trucker doesn't fire on all cylinders, combustion-engine puns aside, it doesn't have to. It rolls as far as it needs, and, like a hitcher on the side of the highway, whether you want to take her along is up to you.