Review of The D Train (2015) by Jeffrey W — 18 May 2015

Some critics are having a hard time swallowing this audacious comedy for being so dark and, well, audacious. How else to react to a film that won't allow its characters to conform to Hollywood cliches. I call it a winner. Screenwriters Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel, in a terrific directing debut, are looking to get at the emotional areas that are likely irreparable. They don't always hit their goals, but it's pure pleasure seeing them try.

The D Train stars Jack Black in a remarkable, rangy performance as Dan Landsman, a loser who's spent his whole life being uncool. Dan works a decent job at a Pittsburgh consulting firm run by a good boss (the great Jeffrey Tambor), and has a wife (the always excellent Kathryn Hahn) and their two children who grudgingly tolerate his controlling ways. But Dan has always been emotionally stuck in high school, where cool kids avoided him. Now Dan thinks he's found his moment when he becomes the self-appointed chairman of 20th high school reunion committee. It's here that Dan thinks he can finally make a name for himself, and he has a plan to do just that by traveling to Los Angeles to find Oliver Lawless (James Marsden), the coolest kid from his graduating class who is now a dashing Hollywood actor, and get him to attend the reunion where Dan can bask in his glory. But Oliver is anything but Hollywood royalty. His biggest claim to fame is a commercial for Banana Boat suntan lotion.

The movie centers around that L.A. visit and what happens between Dan and Oliver. No review should spoil the surprises that result, except to say that Dan and Oliver have a moment of honesty and intimacy that has Dan floored. And when Oliver returns to Pittsburgh, Dan's emotional needs begin to weigh on everyone in his life, especially him. Marsden is amazing at playing a star who never was, digging deep to find the hurt in this bisexual stud who's just now starting to wonder what will become of him when his looks begin to fade. Dan and Oliver represent two types of losers, and they and the filmmakers nail every comic nuance. Black and Marsden are outstanding. You've never seen either one of them this good. The D Train defines hilarious and heartfelt. Let it work its magic on you.