SnoopyStyle Diane Ford (Michelle Monaghan) is an independent long haul trucker. She lives alone and has one night stands. Runner (Nathan Fillion) is her married drinking buddy. Her ex-husband Len Bonner (Benjamin Bratt) is in the hospital with cancer. His girlfriend Jenny Bell drops off Diane's son Peter (Jimmy Bennett) for three weeks. Both are estranged from each other. With schedules to keep, Diane has to take Peter on the road.It's a small indie with Monaghan doing her some of her best acting. It's an unrelenting role. She does a good job although it's not so terrific that it elevates the movie into the stratosphere. The story is a meandering trip of personal growth to find her maternal side. Her tough outer shell has no easy answers. It's a solid indie.

sfiver The two times I've seen this movie I've missed the first ten or so minutes. Often those initial scenes can lay the entire foundation of what follows.Simply stated, I liked the film. The "belated" mother and "angry" pre-teen concept is rarely explored. It is normally the child/father reunification, which I suppose is more common. It is very rare for a mother to abandon her infant leaving the child's total care to the father.The film's overall synergy is the intimate portrait through the screenplay and extremely honest dialog between mother and son. Its downfall rests in the same place.Michelle Monagan's "Diane" is not fully believable as the runaway mother turned rig-driver. I place this malfunction on the director. Her seemingly instant acceptance as Peter's mother is hollow. However, when that bump (although it is apparent throughout the film) is overcome it becomes a bittersweet love story. Young Jimmy Bennett's "Peter" is relatively excellent. When the two characters are left alone, which is a great deal of the picture, the film works best.Dying father "Len Bonner" (very curious name) played by Benjamin Bratt offers nothing to the overall story and script. His screen time could not be more than 8 minutes. His importance to 11-year old Peter appears distant and unrealistic. It would've been justifiable to simply have buried him at the beginning of the picture.Overall "Trucker" is a worthwhile watch, if for nothing else than for Jimmy Bennett. I'm guessing from the IMDb stats that he was about 12 or 13 when this film was made. Further research shows he currently plays the nerdy, teen-age genius on TV's "No Ordinary Family." His career is one to watch.

socrates99 And it is her movie though her kid in this movie is impeccable and as convincing as she is. I wonder what his age is. Oh well. Michelle does not attempt to maintain her looks as Diane Ford. Trucking is not an easy career and it would take a special kind of woman to do it. Knowing that Michelle actually learned how to drive an 18-wheeler for this part proving she is that kind of woman. In fact, she told herself that if she didn't learn how to drive that truck, she would refuse the part.That's astounding when you consider how good she is as an actor. The thing about good looking women is, many of them don't seem to have a real mind working behind the smile. Michelle leaves no doubt there's a mind there, and a real personality to contend with too. It's sheer enjoyment to watch her and she's in almost every frame. The reason is obvious, she is capable of moving the story along almost by herself.The story is fairly straight forward, mom deserts husband and son to live a life on the road, free to do as she likes. Years later she has to take temporary care of that son and finds herself succumbing to her maternal instincts. You see her thrash about unwilling to give up her freedom, but mostly it's a gradual disillusionment with her fairly empty life, despite the same sort of resistance coming from her boy.I enjoyed the movie a lot and haven't seen any actress do a better job bringing a character to life in years. It was quite impressive how well this new director was able to capture and enhance Michelle's performance. The Academy would be shooting itself in the foot if it didn't recognize Michelle for the rare resource that she is.

movieluver3000 "Trucker" is amazingly...bad. I had no plans to see this film at Tribeca, but when a kind soul 'gifted' me two tickets just prior to the sold-out screening...I could not resist as I am a big fan of Michelle M. (loved her in "Gone Baby Gone").Reading the director's comments in the program prior to the film, I suddenly became excited as he was apparently heavily influenced by great 70's films like "The Last Detail" and "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore." Unfortunately, once the film began...all hope for anything remotely fresh or interesting ceased. What a boat load full of cliché after cliché. Michelle M. with all of her star power, can barely muster the strength to give this turkey any legs.When the film ended, I just sat in my seat and wondered how does this trite...been there done that 100 times over...sad wanna-be "auteur" film get made? Michelle's new rom-com opens next weekend with Patrick Dempsey...I have higher hopes for that one.