Blue Car
Miramax Films | Release Date: May 2, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
76
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
29
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
A memory of the automobile in which a father drove away from his family provides the title for Blue Car but no hint of the power of writer-director Karen Moncrieff's superb feature debut. Read full review
90
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
A quietly devastating song. Read full review
90
Dallas ObserverBill Gallo
Karen Moncrieff makes an extraordinary debut as a feature film writer and director with this observant drama about a budding teenage poet who, amid many traumas, finds the courage to become herself and set out as an artist. Read full review
88
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
There are no surprise twists, no characters who rise above themselves, no cheap happy endings. There are just people struggling with emotions and situations they think are beyond their control. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The ending of the film is as calculated and cruel as a verbal assault by a Neil LaBute character. Read full review
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
Bruckner's restrained performance reveals a girl drowning in her own lack of self-esteem. When she finally comes up for air, she shatters the surface with a force that, in the hands of a less thoughtful director, could send her spinning down the melodramatic road to ruin. Read full review
80
Washington PostNicole Arthur
Bruckner's Meg is that rarity, a credible screen teenager. Read full review
80
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Mr. Strathairn's complex, exquisitely nuanced portrayal of a man who goes over the line allows his character to be both hero and villain, sometimes at once. Read full review
80
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Certainly no feel-good flick of the summer. But it's always tough and honest. Read full review
80
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
Moncrieff's insistence on her subject suggests conviction -- about her contribution and about her cast. Both beliefs are pretty much justified. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
For the most part, though, Ms. Moncrieff has given us a portrait of a young woman with a luminous soul.
80
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Moncrieff offers a rare, unromantic take on female adolescence as sharp as a razor: It cuts right to the bone. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Even with its drawbacks, Blue Car remains an intimate, thoughtful drama, with a performance no one is likely to forget. Read full review
80
VarietyDavid Rooney
This melancholy, insightfully scripted coming-of-age drama is moving without being manipulative and makes an assured calling card for writer-director Karen Moncrieff. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
There’s more narrative happenstance loaded into the script of Blue Car than its running time should effectively allow, but the real keeper moments in Moncrieff’s movie are the small, quiet ones in which a simple glance speaks volumes. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
Captures the complex dynamic of a mentoring relationship like few movies before it. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Ms. Moncrieff's low-key directing is matched by fine acting from Agnes Bruckner as Meg and David Strathairn as her mentor. Aside from a somewhat schematic climax, this is as smart a debut as we've seen in a long while. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleC.W. Nevius
This is a film without a single false note. From the rain-streaked windshield to the unaffected line readings from a stellar cast, there is not a shot in Blue Car that doesn't ring true. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Not an easy movie to watch. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Bruckner is an amazement, piercing the heart without begging for sympathy. This small gem of a movie is the perfect setting for her breakthrough performance. Read full review
75
New York PostMegan Lehmann
Settles into an unflinchingly honest coming-of-age portrait. Read full review
75
PremiereGlenn Kenny
Moncrieff’s overriding theme here isn’t empowerment but survival. The movie crams a hell of a lot of dysfunction into its 88 minutes. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
Moncrieff's story remains fresh despite the familiarity of its general outline. This is mostly due to the skilled performances she elicits; even when the unfolding events have been seen many times before, watching human beings react realistically never gets old. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
It's that central dance between teacher and student that makes the movie both hard to watch and worth your attention - a subtle waltz of power in which it's difficult to tell who's leading until too late. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Blue Car is like an unpolished sapphire, at once harshly realistic and resplendent. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
The scenes of family squalor are memorably persuasive, but any filmmaker ending her movie with the heroine throwing a crumpled poem into the ocean needs a few more writing courses. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Even without nudity, the sex scene between Meg and Auster is one of the most uncomfortable on film. Not just because of the actors' age difference (Strathairn is 54, Bruckner 17), but because of Meg's inexperience and misplaced trust. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
A well-intentioned coming-of-age film anchored by two indelible performances but weakened by an overabundance of drama. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Feels like a bit of an emotional mugging. Read full review
60
Village VoiceLaura Sinagra
Blue Car gets so much of the hard stuff (including Meg's Plath-via-Tori poetry) that it assumes the easy stuff will take care of itself. It doesn't. Read full review
50
Film ThreatAnthony Miele
Stunning newcomer Agnes Bruckner and indie vet David Strathairn star in this oft compelling yet eventually disappointing character study of a young girl's rise out of the doldrums of adolescent life. Read full review
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