At first glance most fans of the genre will want to compare director Tate Taylor’s THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN to David Fincher’s modern marriage gone wrong thriller GONE GIRL…
Well I’m here to tell you that THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN is no GONE GIRL!
What we’ve got instead is an alcoholic’s struggle feeding into a prolonged and possessive case of hypnotic voyeurism—or something like that.
THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN is a multi-layer thriller in which devastated divorcee Emily Blunt seems transfixed on one Harley Bennett’s life in a series of what-might-be fantasies about what this woman’s life may be like in the home she once shared with her ex-husband.
Meanwhile she refuses to stop contacting her ex who is remarried and living in their old home.
Add Ms. Blunt’s alcohol infused past (AND present) and surely the new wive’s mortal fear about what Blunt might try and pull off next makes for quite the mystery!
So what we basically have are three characters, two husbands and a psychiatrist whose status quo become intertwined when one of the players suddenly disappears and everyone else in the chain becomes a suspect.
And yes, things turn ever more blurry thanks to Blunt’s inebriated blackouts.
And just when you think you’re hopelessly lost through all the back-and-forth puzzle of what THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN saw, did—or DIDN’T do—the pieces all fall into place.
Want to know more?
Want to know WHO and WHY?
You’re not getting it here as the folks at Universal Pictures would surely censure me for overstepping the sacred critique rules.
Suffice it to say that by the time it’s all over, you might find yourself trying to suppress your own psychological hangover.
Fans of Paula Hawkins’ bestselling novel (on which the film is based) should leave the theater satisfied as this murky story of a seemingly perfect couple who live in a house that Emily Blunt’s train passes by every day is indeed the stuff of which a verklemmt mystery can–and DOES evolve.
THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN emerges with a grade of: B-
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B- ?
Major buzz.
Oh well.