She’s Got Acting Chops
Although “Trucker” follows a somewhat predictable path for this kind of Southwest drama and doesn’t offer much that’s new (Ashley Judd has been down this road a few times), its great strength is as a character piece. From the first scene, before any credits roll, we get a sense of who Diane is after she has a brief one-night motel encounter with some nameless guy. She refuses to give him her number and returns to the comfort of her big rig. It says so much about who she is and how she lives that it beautifully sets up the complicated path she’s about to travel. We immediately know this is someone who takes no prisoners and needs no conventional life. Only something from her past that she also has shut the door on can take her off the highway she feels she was born to roam.
Monaghan, a well-known actor in popcorn fare like “Mission: Impossible III,” “Eagle Eye,” and “Made of Honor,” shows as she did in Ben Affleck’s “Gone Baby Gone” that she’s got acting chops to match her looks. This is an authentic, full-bodied, three-dimensional portrayal of a woman who thinks she knows where she’s going but has clearly lost her way. “Trucker” (an unfortunate, generic title) is her triumph, one of the best performances you will see in this, or any other, year. As her buddy, Fillion is charming and perfectly cast, while in just one scene Bratt is terrific, giving strong shading to a dying man who became frustrated by Diane’s fierce independence and long absences.
Read the full review here www.backstage.com
