The Girl on the Train was last year’s Hot Book. Everyone read it. Even I got around to reading it, mostly because it was being billed as 2015’s Gone Girl. Let me tell you… Gone Girl is a GREAT book. Go back and re-read it and tell me it isn’t easily one of the best books of the past decade. While The Girl on the Train is very readable and easy to get through, it’s not Gone Girl. I basically hate-read the second half of the book because I had already figured out exactly what happened, despite the unreliable narrator. Most of the book is narrated by Rachel, played by Emily Blunt in the film adaptation. The other half is narrated by Megan, played by Haley Bennett. While I was reading the book, I did think, “Hey, I bet this will make for a decent movie.” And here’s the first trailer:
If you’ve read the book, you know that this trailer shows WAY TOO MUCH of the plot. There are too many clips from the second half of the film. I’m sure non-book readers will still be confused though, so maybe this is a decent trailer anyway. Justin Theroux is playing Rachel’s ex-husband and Luke Evans plays Megan’s current husband. Allison Janney plays the cop, and it’s always nice to see Janney, honestly, even if I think she’s mostly being used as a framing device. I think Blunt looks like she’s doing a decent job, although I would have loved to see her put on some weight and really go for it with the permanently-boozed look. If this movie is any good, it has the potential to take several careers to the next-level. It will be interesting to see!
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
We’ll see–I agree Rachel is supposed to be a hot mess, and I’m not getting a sufficiently hot messy vibe from Emily Blunt. The trailer is dark and confusing, kind of hard to follow even if you know the book. I hope it’s great, but am not too excited after this.
the trailer is really confusing! I mean I read the book and I have no idea what this movie is about. lol.
IKR? If I directed the trailer, I would have focused on her alcoholism and self destruction, and then hinted at the “tunnel incident” and her own uncertainty about what she’s even capable of. The most haunting part of the book is that she’s so ravaged by her alcoholism that she can’t trust her own mind any more.
Did anyone get that from this trailer?
Not at all, bettyrose, and you’re right, exactly how it should have been done.
100% agree. When i read the casting i thought, Emily Blunt is great but she’s too thin and pretty and together to play Rachel. Fortunately I couldn’t tell what was going on in the trailer at all, so hopefully it will still be a surprise to some people.
I read the book and hated it. I had no empathy for any of the characters.
Same here. The main character gave me a headache. She was like the obnoxious drunk girl who keeps getting obnoxiously drunk even though she knows she is an obnoxious drunk. It didn’t seem like alcoholism to me though. Just very depressing binge drinking.
Me too. I tried, but I just couldn’t find any empathy for Rachel.
That’s not gonna work better with a rather distanced person like Blunt playing Rachel. I could think of this casting being a problem.
Me as well. I wanted Rachel to suck it up and quit being so whiny and pathetic, and why the hell do you want to hang onto a douche of a guy like the husband? Made me mad.
I read this book and I liked it at the time. But now I totally forget most of the plot. Maybe it’s age or maybe it’s because the book is forgettable.
It should’ve been in London.
Agreed. I’m disappointed that they’re not using all British actors in a British setting. Will Luke Evans have his accent, I wonder?
This book is such a horrible read specially on the tails of Gone Girl which was far superior. Like the main plot reveal was so weak I had to close the book and go calm myself that i wasted time on this.
Also why the hell would you ove this out of England when you have a majorly European cast ??
Agree. This looks (and read) like a poor Gone Girl.
Agree. I liked Gone Girl so much I read it twice.
Did you read Sharp Objects? I loved Gone Girl, but I think I liked that one better. Suspenseful and really disturbing.
I still need to read Sharp Objects, but I felt similarly about Dark Places. Haunting, stayed with me in a way Gone Girl did not (though it was a highly enjoyable read). Don’t like that they’ve made the missing girl a virtual clone of the actress who played Amazing Amy.
Just finished this book, and thought it was very predictable and a crap ending! Not bothered about seeing the movie version. To compare it to gone girl is laughable, that book had me hooked and still one of my favourites thrillers.
The ending was SO bad. One of the few things my book club was in unanimous agreement about.
Tired already of Emily Bland. And no, she will not put on weight – even for a gritty role. She will only allow herself to look a certain level of bad. I just don’t get the appeal. She’s monotone/one-dimensional.
That was my first thought on seeing the trailer, isn’t Rachael supposed to be chubby and unkempt?
I thought she was pregnant during the filming.. if that is the case she was gaining weight.
Haley Bennett looks like a CGI mix of Rosamund Pike, Chloe Grace Moretz and Jennifer Lawrence, while Emily Blunt is starting to look very much like Kate Winslet. It’s making the trailer a little bit Uncanny Valley for me.
I just started reading yesterday! But really, why not shoot in London? That’s disappointing.
I’m so glad I’m not the only one who hated this book, I too hate read the second half and damn that main character irritated the hell out of me!!! Maybe because I actually know someone similar in real life… Oops.
YES to the hate read of the 2nd half!! I was so ready for it to be over I started skimming.
Overall I liked the book but agree the ending wasn’t good. Calling it “this year’s Gone Girl” put it at a serious disadvantage because of the comparison.
The movie looks interesting enough, though I can’t figure out why they didn’t set it in London.
luke evans is so gorgeous. if i could have a husband that looks like him forever that would be nice
Ikr! So yum.
I liked the book so much better than Gone Girl. I felt like the character’s descent into the lowest form of herself was much more authentic. In Gone Girl, we were supposed to just buy that she was a psychotic narcissist, but in GOTT we see the inner workings of the mind of an addict who is destroying her own life.
I’m disappointed that they didn’t set the film in London. Already one strike against it.
I HATED Gone Girl. I hated the characters so much, just did not care at all what happened to them. I liked this book so much better as well.
Emily was pregnant during filming so she couldn’t go for a more boozed look.
I recognize the Metro North commuter trains. Had to take those for two years when I was living at my parents. Wonder why they moved filming to NYC instead of London.
I wish I had read your comment earlier. I commented that she was pregnant. So the talk of her being too skinny or not gaining weight is well incorrect.
Good eye re: the Metro North trains! I live along the Metro North line – my house (and my next door neighbors on either side) were scouted for filming. Ultimately they went with houses in a nearby town… 🙁
I really don’t like haley bennet probably because she has great cheeks bones and an eye shape where she won’t get eye bags easily. this movie is kind of insulting to the book I feel. More than a murder mystery I thought it was about a depressed woman who felt old, fat, and unattractive and how men treated her differently than they did before. This movie could have been a wonderful look how if you don’t look a certain way you get marginalized and ignored in society. Anyways that was my take.
This looks interesting, but I feel like it’s nothing like the book. But I feel like it reveals way too much at the same time. if you know what you’re looking at.
But Girl on a Train was about the hot alcoholic mess that is Rachel, and how she can’t trust herself to know what’s really going on, or handle herself. It’s not a straight-up murder mystery like this trailer.
I still want to watch it. I agree that this book was not Gone Girl 2.0 but it was highly readable.
I picked up this book last year because it was being toted as “the next Gone Girl” um yeah, definitely not. I skimmed the second half because I actually bought the hard cover instead of buying it on the kindle and it would have been a waste to not just see it through. I was disappointed, bored and I hated it. The movie seems like it’s an entire different entity from the book. I won’t go see it but if its on TV, I will watch to see how they adapted it. It’ll probably piss me off as much as the book. I do love Emily Blunt though.