Paula Hawkins’ novel ‘The Girl on the Train’ was a runaway smash it. Critics hailed it as a “page turner.” Movie studios salivated at the chance to make it into a film and replicate the success of ‘Gone Girl.’ The problem is that ‘Gone Girl’ set the bar too high for the genre. With David Fincher at the helm, ‘Gone Girl’ had the perfect blend of masterful storytelling and plot twists. On the other hand, Tate Taylor’s ‘The Girl on the Train’ takes itself too seriously and unsuccessfully tries to copy Hitchcock’s unique style. As the train keeps plodding along, Hawkins’ thrilling novel transforms into a Lifetime TV melodrama. ‘The Girl on the Train’ is ultimately a real disappointment.
The actress that must carry the entire film is Emily Blunt. There is no doubt that she is up for the task. She has tremendous range and has a keen understanding of human behavior. She plays the protagonist Rachel, an unlikable sad-sack alcoholic. At first, it’s difficult to believe Blunt playing a character that spends her days commuting through the suburbs of New York to Manhattan. She fantasizes about the life that she has lost while taking sips of Vodka from a water bottle. Her addiction is so bad that she is prone to getting the shakes and blackouts. On the train ride, she passes a wealthy neighborhood. She used to live in one of the houses with her ex-husband Tom (Justin Theroux). He has remarried with his new wife Anna (Rebecca Ferguson) and their baby, Evie. The other house, two doors down belongs to a young couple Megan (Haley Bennett) and Scott (Luke Evans) that makes love with the window shades wide open.
What made Hawkins’ novel so fascinating is how she shifted the narration between the three women. You actually get into the minds of the characters which is difficult to translate on screen. During one of her commutes, a drunken Rachel sees Megan kissing another man on her porch. When she exits the train to investigate, she wakes up with blood and mud caked on her face. Because she blacked out, she only remembers fragments of what happened the night before. She then hears on the news that Megan has gone missing. At this point, you don’t know if foul play is involved or if she staged her own death to run away from her unfulfilling marriage similar to ‘Gone Girl.’ A Police detective (Allison Janney) questions Rachel but it is Megan’s husband Scott that gets most of the attention as a prime suspect.
Hawkins peels away at these characters to reveal their flaws and anxiety. Through the women’s different perspectives, we see the torrid events unfold. In the film, Tate uses flashbacks to show that everything is not perfect along the well manicured suburban enclave. In actuality, as we spend more time with these trophy wives, we sense a restless discontent with their cushy existence. Megan talks about her unhappy marriage to her therapist (Edgar Ramirez). It’s too obvious that he will cross that ethical line and have sex with this gorgeous blonde. The bizarre part is how the therapist simply disappears from the story. Anna confesses to missing being “the other woman” in her relationship with Tom. She is trapped as the stay-at-home mother that spends her days shopping at the farmer’s market and pureeing food for her baby. Their connection is when Megan takes a job as nanny so Anna can run errands.
All the while, Blunt’s character is trying to find out what happened to Megan and in the process she finds out the painful truths of the life that she left behind. The problem is that the plot is not as compelling as it is in the novel. There are no shocking surprises. It’s a fairly straightforward story that shows two-dimensional characters that nobody cares about in the end. Blunt is a gifted actress but there is only so much absurd dialogue an audience can take before they lose interest in the story. Blunt gives it her all but just cannot rescue ‘The Girl on the Train’ from derailing. Something went terribly wrong from book to screen. One of the major flaws comes from the source material that worked so well on the page. It’s a first-person novel with three narrators that skips around in time. For a fun beach read, that’s fine. However for a movie, it’s daunting to follow.
Megan says, “I read once that when a train hits, it can rip the clothes right off of you.” She’s a beautiful blonde that seems to sleep with anyone that gives her attention. She’s bored with her suburban existence and as the story drags on, the audience is equally bored. Taylor tries his damnedest too emulate Hitchcock visually but there is no substance or suspense to any of the characters except Blunt’s alcoholic Rachel. The performance is noteworthy but in the end, there is no redemption for the wounded protagonist. ‘The Girl on the Train’ is a forgettable superficial thriller.
