Review of The Girl on the Train. Apparently, it isn’t very good. [Pajiba]
Is My Blind Brother worth watching? [LaineyGossip]
The Muppets did a parody of Fifty Shades of Grey. Oh, no! [Dlisted]
Gugu Mbatha-Raw is just so pretty! [Go Fug Yourself]
The concierge wrote an open letter to Kim Kardashian. [TMZ]
Alessandra Ambrosio wore some ugly leggings. [Popoholic]
Daniel Radcliffe still has most of his $100 million fortune. [Wonderwall]
New hot couple: Carrie Brownstein & Abbi Jacobson? [OMG Blog]
Teresa Giudice is already beefing with another housewife. [Reality Tea]
Kristen Stewart looks like she’s wearing pajamas. [Moe Jackson]
Pres. Obama already declared a state of emergency in Florida & South Carolina. Stay safe, peeps on the Southeastern Coast! [Jezebel]
The Guardian gave it 2 stars. It is hard to judge at this point but I think it was a big mistake moving the location from Britain to the US, it probably lost a lot in authenticity because of that.
Their reasoning was stupid too. Something like that heavy drinking is more shameful in the US? But then they picked an English actress and let her keep her accent. Real head scratcher. I think it should have stayed in England too.
Yeah, that was disappointing, but I saw the film last night and despite its several flaws it was actually engrossing and a lot fun to watch the creepy plot unfold. Guilty pleasure maybe, but I enjoyed it. (My husband and I had both read the book, so the different locale was notable and kind of a letdown to us.) Blunt was very good, and her smeared mascara should get an Oscar nom because it played a big supporting role. Justin T. also played his part as the gaslighting husband believably, if anything about this was believable, lol.
Hoping that people in Hurricane Matthew’s path stay safe!
Apparently it’s supposed to loop back to the Bahamas and Florida again next week? Crazy.
Ditto this.
I feel so bad for Haiti. I really hope the loop back doesn’t actually happen or it loses a lot of its power. Seems we (Jamaica) lucked out.
I’m not surprised the film has had poor reviews. I thought the book was awful and can’t believe it was so popular. It just shows anything can be successful with a good PR campaign.
Yep. Sounds to me like the book and movie are the same on the “good” (or not so) scale. It’s too bad because I LOVE Emily Blunt.
I hated the book and still can’t understand what the hype was all about.
I thought it was a very cliche thriller that showed a lot of promise in the first half, and then devolved into an atrocious ending.
I really hate that both the movie and book are being lumped in with Gone Girl, which was well-written and clever and had some substance. TGotT does not. At all. If the filmmakers really worked on the ending, they could make it into the satisfying thriller the book *should* have been – but that’s the best it would ever be.
I totally agree with you. I did like the first half and I was really disappointed with the ending. And I think I liked Gone Girl better too.
I also agree with the poster who said moving the location could have lost some authenticity, but then we don’t commute on trains much out here. There isn’t one to get to where I work or else I’d be on it staring at everyone’s houses as I go by too.
That’s how I felt about the book as well. I was really sucked in, I even took it to the gym with me to finish it. Then I was kind of let down by the ending.
Yes, I agree with everything you said. I’d add that the setting was one of my favorite parts of the book. My book club got a kick out of the canned gin and tonics the main character drank. You don’t see those in the US!
The book is better than the film, but I didn’t think the book was brilliant either. Emily Blunt is the best thing about the film (even though she still looks gorgeous). The other characters are very thinly drawn and the film doesn’t really build tension that well.
@Esmom Me too! Love me a gin and tonic and I wish you could buy them here!
Agreed–the book was basically a Lifetime thriller.
Same. I didn’t care for the book and, let’s face it, that’ll be the best iteration of this story. There was little chance of this working on film. Maybe on tv it would have worked, but not film. Lifetime thriller is EXACTLY what it is.
Didnt read the book, but have been bamboozled by movies with the same trailer formula that makes the movie look exciting…when it’s a snooze….was never gonna watch it…
The dialogue at the end seemed like it was pulled directly from a Lifetime TV movie. I’ve been avoiding saying that because it kind of gives away the ending, but hell, the ending is obvious pretty early on.
OMG, thank you! Thought I was the only one who thought the book was only so-so
the book was absolute garbage. My only curiosity about the film is how can they turn that pile of sh*t into an ‘intriguing’ movie? Apparently they didn’t. awful, awful book. VERY lifetime TV movie. ALL the elements of it.
Haven’t read the book but I scanned the Wikipedia article about it and guessed the ending about two sentences in.
Don’t care – I’ve been looking forward to it, I like Emily Blunt, and I’m going to see it with some friends next weekend.
I’m looking forward to it too. I love a proper old-fashioned “potboiler” and that’s what I’m hoping this is going to be. An entertaining couple of hours that takes my mind off of all the madness going on atm.
Me too…
I will still see it, too. Emily Blunt is a good selling point!
I’ll watch it on Netflix.
Same.
I’ll spend those two hours reading a good book.
The trailer didn’t really do anything for me. I do like Emily Blunt though so I hope it doesn’t flop.
I felt this way about Gone Girl but every one seemed to love that so…
it’s funny…I seem to be on the “other side” of the Gone Girl vs. Girl on the Train comparison, too.
I thought Gone Girl was OK, but the so-called “twist” wasn’t really a surprise and it was revealed pretty early on…plus, there were NO sympathetic characters in that book. and I thought the ending was kind of a cop out.
I though Girl on the Train has a much better “twist” (though I did figure it out before it was revealed) and I found a couple sympathetic characters in that one.
I’m speaking of the books, here, to be clear…I didn’t see the Gone Girl movie and I likely won’t see this one.
Here’s a slightly off-topic Gone Girl question… I started the book before the film came out, but lost interest and had to take it back to the library. I really liked Dark Places (the book), but thought the film was truly awful. Should I still read the book first, or would you recommend just seeing the film? Or neither, I s’pose.
I still always read a book first if I can because books are so much more involved than a film ever can be. And if you see a movie and you don’t care for it, you won’t want to read the book which could be WAY better.
Out of Gilian Flynn’s three books Dark Places is still my fave. I didn’t ever see the movie even though I had intended to. It’s too bad that it was bad. And I believe it was because I didn’t hear one single good thing about it!
Thanks, Happy21. That’s my general policy anyway, but after reading these negative comments I’m wondering if its even worth my time, considering it didn’t hold my interest in the first place. Yeah, I thought the book Dark Places was interesting and brooding. I was excited to make my husband watch the movie with me because I liked the book so much, but it was super disjointed and boring. I even found it confusing having read the book. Shame, really.
Now I will look for Dark Places!
I liked Gone Girl. Yes, the twist was revealed early, but the real twist happens after the book is done.
Have you read Sharp Objects? That one really freaked me out. I liked Dark Places the book a lot, too. The movie was not good and I am not surprised it was buried and didn’t get a lot of fanfare.
Thanks, guys! I think I’ll still give it a read. I haven’t gotten to Sharp Objects yet, but it’s on my list!
I watched first Gone Girl and found it to be very entertaining so I read the book and enjoyed it even more than the movie. After I read Dark Places but I thought the end was terrible and the movie was very bad but mainly because it was miscasted.
My favourite book was Sharp Objects because I thought the characters were creepy and I’ve read they are filming so I hope it turns out to be enjoyable.
Dark Places was my favorite too, broke my heart. Didn’t bother with the movie, looked awful. I will see GOTT, but not sure when.
Gone Girl was lucky to have David Fincher directing..
I liked the book and will go see it but after the horrible reviews not expecting it to be as good as the book.
She actually looks good with the prosthetics they used to make her face look puffier, instead of looking worse.
Found the book disappointing. Figured it out about 1/2 way through. Ending was too pat. Shame re the movie because I adore Emily Blunt.
I’m going to see it next week so I do hope it is better than suggested.
I liked the book and would like to see the movie to judge for myself if it’s good or bad. However, I find there are a gazillion ‘Gone Girl’ comparisons out there for books right now and I don’t know if I like that. Like if you liked Gone Girl you’ll love this! I liked Gone Girl but I didn’t think it was nearly as good as it was hyped up to be.
Seeing that a lot of talk about gaslight in was part of the stars of the movie’s interviews, I Wikipedia ‘ed the plot and….meh. I hope Emily Blunt eventually gets the role and accolades that she deserves. I watched Edge of Tomorrow at my parent’s house (they kept calling it Live, Die, Repeat, which is such a better title but only it’s tagline) and I didn’t not hate it on account of Blunt.
She was pretty bad ass in Edge of tomorrow. Apparently they changed the title from Live, Die, Repeat, because focus groups didn’t like it. In Sicario, she was brilliant and she should have had gotten some award love.
I watched GOTT this week and I was very impressed by Emily’s performance. I stopped reading the book, because I couldn’t stand Rachel. Emily did a good job of humanising her. The film itself is not bad, but it’s not a master piece either.
She was amazing in Sicario. I agree.
this type of book has its natural habitat in Lifetime TV. Never translates well into a feature film, less alone a studio movie with its commercial dynamics and placeholder directors without creative control or final cut. It worked with Gone Girl because Fincher is Fincher, but it wasn’t sure his best movie neither.
sh*t…wrote the comment before reading the article on Pajiba, promise!
Girl on the Train is actually quite good. The characters were well written. Gone Girl isn’t quite the literary genius everyone is trying to make it. If anything, it was more predictable. It was good but not great. So I will take this review with a bag of salt.
Casting-wise I didn’t imagine Emily Blunt, but Justin Theroux looks like a good fit.
Read Girl On The Train and wish i could get my money back! The main character was a unsympathetic, stalker.
I guess I am in the minority because I really liked the movie. And I am an Emily Blunt fan. She’s great.
We just watched the film and I thought it was pretty good, the entire theater was quiet and everyone was so engrossed lol, the end was a little awkward for some reason I can’t figure out, but overall good😄
I watched it yesterday with a friend cinema pretty full we both read the book but I had forgotten parts the wife drove me nuts. It was entertaining it was better than I expected after seeing the reviews. Like others said they should have left it in the U.K. I take a train daily to work and would love my train to be as empty as hers during rush hour.
I figured out the ending pretty early on, but thought it was pretty good.
Never read the book. GOTT movie was all set up and no pay off. Too many repetitive sequences. Great cast, although JT was too obvious. I feel like they rushed the production. Its been a few hours since I left the cinema and it feels like a long TV pilot.
Oddly I actually liked the movie more than the book! Which never happens. I think maybe because I knew what would happen and my expectations weren’t too high.