I once asked Mike Phillips and A.O. Scott what do you say when a movie is well made; the pace is appropriate for the story; the score is perfect; that cast are acting their hearts out – and the film just connect with you.
One of them replied that I already had my answer. And The Girl on the Train is a perfect example of the kind of movie I was referring to.
Erin Cressida Wilson’s script for The Girl on the Train gives director Tate Taylor license to play completely far by using flashbacks and comic back to the present at specific places .
EMILY BLUNT stars in DreamWorks Pictures’ “The Girl on the Train,” from director Tate Taylor and producer Marc Platt.
There are half a number key characters: an alcohol named Rachel (Emily blunt in her own accent) – whose lost her job and spends her morning and evenings taking the rain past the neighborhood where her ex, Tom (Justin Theroux) lives with his new wife, Anna (Rebecca Ferguson), with whom he had an affair while stayed marrying to Rachel – and is now having an affair with the new nanny, Megan (Haley Bennett), who is married to Scott (Luke Evans).
Megan goes missing and is soon found dead in the forest.
The problem is that Rachel rides the train past the neighborhood every evening as she returns home from the job she’s also lost, and is clearly stalking Tom and Anna. But she does see everything – including a different man kissing Megan on the porch after Scott’s gone off to work.
Anna (REBECCA FERGUSON) in DreamWorks Pictures’ “The Girl on the Train”
Tom on the other side isn’t considered because he seems like a complete loser.
But Rachel has a problem – though she’s blackout drunk, she still remembers that Megan has gone missing. Her blackouts fill Detective Riley (Allison Janney) with curiosity – and before long, she’s also had the missing girl’s fiancé come in for questioning. Which in turn prompts Rachel to inquire after Scott.
Essentially, Riley is there to ask obvious questions and make her suspects wonder if they could done for the murder – or at least very uncomfortable. Actually though, she’s there for one reason – the catch a killer. Of all the characters, she is the most ill-served.
(L to R) Detective Riley (ALLISON JANNEY) confronts Rachel (EMILY BLUNT) in DreamWorks Pictures’ “The Girl on the Train.”
With all the complicated relationships going in, and the characters’ general behavior being less than inspiring sympathy-wise, all the hard work of trying to get the audience to relate to someone/anyone is pretty much wasted.
Meanwhile, there’s a terrific puzzle surrounding the film – and it is handled with appropriate convolutions. It’s just that we don’t care enough about any of the characters to be bothered to figure it out (even though when the murder is solved, there is a general feeling of, well, yeah…).
Props to everyone involved for trying. After I left the theater, I was still thinking ‘why should I care about any of these characters? And I couldn’t come up with a single readon.
Final Grade: D+