Review of The Girl on the Train (2016) by Warwick B — 15 Nov 2016

The big screen adaptation of Paula Hawkins bestselling murder mystery, which became a surprise phenomenon in 2015, stars Emily Blunt in an award contending performance as the novel's alcoholic heroine, Rachel.

Recently divorced Rachel soothes the pain and misery of her personal life with excessive drinking and a fixation on a seemingly perfect couple, hunky Scott (Luke Evans) and his hottie blonde wife Megan (Hayley Bennett), who live a few doors along from her ex husband Tom (Justin Theroux) and the woman he cheated on her with Anna (Rebecca Ferguson) and their new baby, she sees everyday from the train on her daily commute into the city.

One day, whilst looking through the window, Rachel sees something shocking. Later the news reports that Megan has gone missing. Rachel has no memory of the night of the disappearance but woke up covered in blood after backing out. Rachel, troubled with where she was that night, turns amateur detective obsessed with finding out with what happened.

The film sticks pretty faithfully to the book and its back and forth structure between the three women and time switches. But whereas the irresistibly mysterious book is impossible to put down, the film is rather ungripping.

It is, however, Blunt's ticket to Oscar glory. A messy and miserable Blunt is wholly convincing as a boozey Miss Marple in this jigsaw piece psycho thriller. Fascinatingly unreliable, pretty much unlikeable, and mostly drunk, she's unlike any other heroine you've seen.