The Girl on The Train
Directed by Tate Taylor
Starring Emily Blunt, Justin Theroux, Luke Evans, Allison Janney
[rating: 2.5/5]
Like so many jigsaw pieces being slowly pushed into place, the long-awaited adaptation of The Girl on The Train, the bestselling novel by Paula Hawkins (over 11 million copies and counting), is little more than a basic murder mystery with some interesting twists and wonderful performances by Emily Blunt and Haley Bennett. Without Blunt’s deliberately sluggish turn, Bennett’s ethereal beauty, and the extraordinary success of the novel, it’s hard to imagine why anyone would pay too much mind to Tate Taylor’s adaptation. It was only two years ago we were treated to David Fincher’s Gone Girl (the comparisons are unavoidable) and the source material for that, by Gillian Flynn, was as much of a phenomenon. Fincher’s film however was deliciously sinister, justifiably epic, and expertly conceived. The corker to that tale (I’ll hush for those yet to visit with it) was a knockout, and worth waiting for. The corker to Hawkins’s little potboiler is too tiresome to discuss. Brace yourself for a dose of déjà vu.
So yes, this is one of those jigsaw movies. Emily Blunt is Rachel Watson, a lonely alcoholic who develops a keen interest in the occupants of a beautiful home her train passes each day as she journeys to Manhattan. Luke Evans and Haley Bennett are Scott and Megan Hipwell, the sexy, loving couple she watches and envies. Justin Theroux and Rebecca Ferguson are Anna and Tom Watson (Tom is Rachels’ ex-husband), who live a few doors down and whenever she spots them her heart breaks, again and again. Jumping back and forth through many time frames, we eventually learn one of them is no longer with us and due to Rachel’s blackouts, she suspects that she herself may be somehow responsible. It’s a sticky situation, especially when Detective Riley, the always great Allison Janney, shows up to question her. She could find out if you killed a fly.
The problem lies in the execution. This is one of those films that begs us, in the grand showdown, to exclaim “So that’s what happened!” Delivered in a style similar to thrillers likeBefore I Go To Sleep and The Machinist, we’re too familiar with the terrain now. We’re trained to look for the clues not so much in the story but in the story’s projection and here Taylor’s approach falls flat. Ordinarily fiddling with time frames is a tease to be cherished but it needs structure and intelligence and both are lacking here. The solution, which is signaled pretty early on, left me shrugging.
The best thing to come out of the film is Haley Bennett. Looking so much like Jennifer Lawrence it’s distracting, she carries a hefty part of the film with style. She’s a classic mystery woman with a stunning presence and with those eyes she belongs in a disturbing thriller, not a conventional one.
