Girl on the Train (C+ or 2.5/4 stars)
There has been much buzz about 'The Girl on the Train' (directed by Tate Taylor, The Help) and of Emily Blunt's performance. Based on a popular trashy whodunit novel, many hoped this film would have the same effect as Gone Girl did 2 yrs. ago. However, this movie never achieves the same stellar execution, twists of character, or thematic perspective that David Fincher brought to that 2014 film; it never has us questioning events in interesting ways. Sure, there's soap opera intrigue, twists, & suspense throughout, but 'TGOTT' is not consistently engaging and, certain 'reveals' occur too early in the film to provide full effect in the end. There's no big "Wow!" or "A-ha!" moment for us to enjoy. As is, this film is a serviceable, but flawed & morose thriller.
As the film begins, we are introduced to Rachel (Blunt), our unreliable narrator/titular character, who spends her work week riding a Westchester train to & fro NYC. Rachel is a bitter, blackout alcoholic who revels in looking out the train window for glimpses of a life & marriage she once had (but lost due to her alcoholism). There is one particular upper middle class neighborhood & house that she seeks; that of her ex-husband (Justin Theroux), his new wife, Anna (Rebecca Ferguson, of the last Mission Impossible film), & their baby. Each day, Rachel rides past their home -- her old home -- fixating on their 'perfect' life & wallowing in her own misery.
At the same time, Rachel also fixates on a house 2 doors down, where a seemingly idyllic couple lives out their life: pretty blonde Megan (Haley Bennett, appearing in a plethora of films this year) & her hunky husband, Scott (Luke Evans). Every time she sees them, they're in the throes of passion & seem so much in love. She fantasizes about these two, but feels betrayed (as she was when her husband left her for Anna) when she glimpses Megan kissing her psychologist, Dr. Abdic (Edgar Ramirez). Things get complicated for Rachel when Megan disappears under mysterious circumstances on the very night when drunk Rachel decides to boldly confront her about her infidelity. Rachel wakes up the next a.m. covered in blood and, due to one of her booze-induced blackouts, has no recollection of what happened before, during, & after that encounter. Did Rachel do something sinister? Melodrama ensues.
I like how the film captures the escape that voyeurism provides - we've all looked into homes, wondering about the lives of the people in them. But this film - while wholly watchable - lacks both heft & a palpable sense of tension to off-shoot the plodding glumness of it all. This film plays like a trashy novel chock full of lurid melodrama. Or a soap opera: the perfect homes; suburban malcontent; sad-sack wives/moms; psychologist sit downs; overblown, misty-eyed confrontations. And the film is Dreary with a capital D: gloomy weather, alcoholism (and effects of it), depression, violence, abuse, adultery, divorce, death, betrayals, & the sad series of events which occur near the very end. There is no let-up!!! There is no levity to be found anywhere. And there is no dark humor. I tend to love misery porn & dreariness (Dolores Claiborne is one of my favorite movies), but this film takes the cake.
Emily Blunt carries the weight of Rachel's self-hatred & grief-fueled dependency on alcohol with aplomb. She's pathetic, but also sympathetic as she runs the gamut from lunatic to tortured victim and anything in-between -- she's better than the movie she's in. The rest of the cast falls into predictable stereotypes (one-dimensional cops, baddies, hot messes). Haley Bennett is fine as Megan, the femme fatale who gets in over her head. Rebecca Ferguson is fine as the self-absorbed new wife. Luke Evans is fine as Haley's testy, oft-shirtless husband. I wasn't wild about Justin Theroux. For me, he doesn't exhibit the looks or charm that would make several beautiful women pine for him. And I was disappointed by how underused Alison Janney, Lisa Kudrow, & Edgar Ramirez (boy, is his character confusing!) were.
And so, while 'TGOTT' aims to be the salacious, titillating trash thriller that the likes of Gone Girl or a Basic Instinct excelled at, it simply misses the mark. Maybe too much was left in the editing room so as to create a film running under 2 hours. But this story & these characters deserved more complex treatment. I wanted to be puzzled by the characters' psyches, puzzled by the twists, & satiated by the ramifications ... rather than being slightly underwhelmed while exiting the theater. Instead, it's merely watchable 'entertainment' (mileage on that word will vary). I liked this film more than how my review reads. But I needed 'The Girl on the Train' to be more than what it was; more lurid, more creepy, more fun.
As the film begins, we are introduced to Rachel (Blunt), our unreliable narrator/titular character, who spends her work week riding a Westchester train to & fro NYC. Rachel is a bitter, blackout alcoholic who revels in looking out the train window for glimpses of a life & marriage she once had (but lost due to her alcoholism). There is one particular upper middle class neighborhood & house that she seeks; that of her ex-husband (Justin Theroux), his new wife, Anna (Rebecca Ferguson, of the last Mission Impossible film), & their baby. Each day, Rachel rides past their home -- her old home -- fixating on their 'perfect' life & wallowing in her own misery.
At the same time, Rachel also fixates on a house 2 doors down, where a seemingly idyllic couple lives out their life: pretty blonde Megan (Haley Bennett, appearing in a plethora of films this year) & her hunky husband, Scott (Luke Evans). Every time she sees them, they're in the throes of passion & seem so much in love. She fantasizes about these two, but feels betrayed (as she was when her husband left her for Anna) when she glimpses Megan kissing her psychologist, Dr. Abdic (Edgar Ramirez). Things get complicated for Rachel when Megan disappears under mysterious circumstances on the very night when drunk Rachel decides to boldly confront her about her infidelity. Rachel wakes up the next a.m. covered in blood and, due to one of her booze-induced blackouts, has no recollection of what happened before, during, & after that encounter. Did Rachel do something sinister? Melodrama ensues.
I like how the film captures the escape that voyeurism provides - we've all looked into homes, wondering about the lives of the people in them. But this film - while wholly watchable - lacks both heft & a palpable sense of tension to off-shoot the plodding glumness of it all. This film plays like a trashy novel chock full of lurid melodrama. Or a soap opera: the perfect homes; suburban malcontent; sad-sack wives/moms; psychologist sit downs; overblown, misty-eyed confrontations. And the film is Dreary with a capital D: gloomy weather, alcoholism (and effects of it), depression, violence, abuse, adultery, divorce, death, betrayals, & the sad series of events which occur near the very end. There is no let-up!!! There is no levity to be found anywhere. And there is no dark humor. I tend to love misery porn & dreariness (Dolores Claiborne is one of my favorite movies), but this film takes the cake.
Emily Blunt carries the weight of Rachel's self-hatred & grief-fueled dependency on alcohol with aplomb. She's pathetic, but also sympathetic as she runs the gamut from lunatic to tortured victim and anything in-between -- she's better than the movie she's in. The rest of the cast falls into predictable stereotypes (one-dimensional cops, baddies, hot messes). Haley Bennett is fine as Megan, the femme fatale who gets in over her head. Rebecca Ferguson is fine as the self-absorbed new wife. Luke Evans is fine as Haley's testy, oft-shirtless husband. I wasn't wild about Justin Theroux. For me, he doesn't exhibit the looks or charm that would make several beautiful women pine for him. And I was disappointed by how underused Alison Janney, Lisa Kudrow, & Edgar Ramirez (boy, is his character confusing!) were.
And so, while 'TGOTT' aims to be the salacious, titillating trash thriller that the likes of Gone Girl or a Basic Instinct excelled at, it simply misses the mark. Maybe too much was left in the editing room so as to create a film running under 2 hours. But this story & these characters deserved more complex treatment. I wanted to be puzzled by the characters' psyches, puzzled by the twists, & satiated by the ramifications ... rather than being slightly underwhelmed while exiting the theater. Instead, it's merely watchable 'entertainment' (mileage on that word will vary). I liked this film more than how my review reads. But I needed 'The Girl on the Train' to be more than what it was; more lurid, more creepy, more fun.