Blue Car - **1/2
Now Playing: (2003, Karen Moncrieff) [seen on DVD]
Kind of puzzling over how I should rate this one, given how compelling the central strands of the plot are and how much weaker the rest of it is. I can maybe see why Moncrieff might have included such subplots as the problems with the main character's younger sister (the resolution of her subplot felt almost like a sick joke) and the stuff about the friend's criminal brother, but ultimately they felt like distractions from the heart of the movie. This can be found in the difficult relationship between Meg (Agnes Bruckner) and her English teacher Mr. Auster (David Straithairn)- he clearly desires her, and he uses his position to insinuate himself into her life, but she welcomes the attention and flattery. These scenes are well-written and acted, and this made me wish Moncrieff might have been able to focus on these two characters as they did their little dance around each other. I think I'll settle on 2 1/2 stars for this because I think the main story deserves at least this high a rating and because the subplots don't completely kill the good stuff.