THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN
Universal Pictures
Reviewed by: Harvey Karten, Shockya
Grade: B
Director:  Tate Taylor
Written by: Erin Cressida Wilson adapting Paula Hawkins’s novel
Cast: Emily Blunt, Rebecca Ferguson, Haley Bennett, Justin Theroux, Luke Evans, Allison Janney
Screened at: AMC Empire, NYC, 10/3/16
Opens: October 7, 2016

The title of this movie taken from a runaway best-seller sounds innocuous enough, but “The Girl on the Train” is far from benign.  Consider it more in the line of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window,” because the title character sees things from the vantage point of her train window.  Or choose the title “Stepford Redux,” because the principal “girl” observes a number of trophy wives.  Still, the train itself is a principal character, chugging along full speed from New York’s Grand Central Station to points north in Westchester County where it was filmed on location in Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, Hastings, Irvington and White Plains.  Some of the scenery is so beautiful, the Hudson River so blue overlooked by leaves turning color, that this could be a product placement ad for New York State’s Tourist Commission.  And we’re not even that far from Manhattan as are Niagara Falls and the Finger Lakes.

Rachel Watson (Emily Blunt) is the girl in a movie adapted from Paul Hawkins’ novel, which has sold eleven million copies and has been picked up even in China.  Tate Taylor, who directs, stays pretty close to the book which has been adapted by Erin Cressida Wilson, punctuating Hawkins’ sometimes stream-of-consciousness techniques, her traveling forward and backward almost innumerable times, and spying on the action from various points of view.  The campy ending would be appreciated by fans of Quentin Tarantino.  A hearty cheer arose from an early audience during the final moments.

Though this may not be Emily Blunt’s best role—perhaps that’s “The Devil Wears Prada” which shows her as an assistant to a high-power editor of a top fashion magazine—director Taylor accommodates the thirty-three-year old actress by situating her in virtually every frame.  Blunt is especially terrifying when she comes at us close-up, her character’s anxieties showing so clearly that they could form a map on her face.  She is anxious for a reason.  When she fails to produce a baby, her husband, Tom Watson (Justin Theroux) throws her out and picks up his life by marrying  Anna Watson (Rebecca Ferguson), a Westchester trophy wife whose beauty and whose providing him a baby does not quite satisfy him.  Despite Anna’s corn-fed beauty, Tom Watson goes behind her back to conduct affairs with the likes of Megan Hipwell (Haley Bennett), who could serve almost as a double to his wife, and whom he employs as a babysitter in a home that may be spacious but is too close to the Metro North tracks to be a top dollar property.

In fact the train is Tom’s undoing, as Rachel, who has no job and is crashing at a friend’s place, rides the train back and forth daily, five days a week, drinking vodka from a designer water bottle and observing her ex-husband’s cheating on Anna.  Rachel is generally close to tears, an alcoholic who is sometimes violent.  In one scene she throws a platter of eggs at the wall during a party hosted by her husband’s boss.

Though there are two major male characters—besides Tom, Scott Hipwell (Luke Evans) is Megan’s wife understandably upset when Megan is found dead in the woods—“The Girl on the Train” puts women front and center, with input from Detective Sgt. Riley (Allison Janney) who is investigating the crime and who suspects that Rachel killed Megan.    Pulp it may be, at least during the latter half, but that’s not a bad thing.  That’s what sells.  And pulp in this case will appeal particularly to women, some of whom may recognize themselves as victims of husbands who are cheating on them in this post-feminist age when women are urged to freely enjoy sex as much as the men.

Rated R.  112 minutes.  © Harvey Karten, Member, New York Film Critics Online

Story – B
Acting – A-
Technical – B
Overall – B