Review of The Girl on the Train (2016) by Douglas L — 13 Jan 2017

A pulpy wannabe Gone Girl, Girl on the Train focuses on alcoholic Emily Blunt as she is still reeling from a divorce form her ex husband and hazy memories of years of alcohol abuse and potentially other ailments as she travel back and forth on a train to New York as an escape from it all.

And by happenstance, she is brought into the investigation of a former babysitter of her ex after reports of her drunken appearance at their house near the beginning of the story, and due to her fragmented memory she has to retrace everything in a 6 degrees of separation sort of a way.

Given the material Emily Blunt does decently well here, I am assuming she took on the project as a way to stretch her range etc etc given the things the character goes through, but that being said the film itself doesn't seem to rise above the pulpy/soapy tone that it is pulled from to make it earth shattering or anything, more of just a time eater to consume on a flight or a train ride as no doubt it was intended for.

Not that I was expecting a game changer but not doubt will be forgotten rather quickly which is disappointing for a Blunt film given how much I enjoy her normally.