The Girl Who Can't Recall

British actress Emily Blunt’s latest film is the mystery-suspense thriller ‘The Girl on the Train,’ adapted from the bestselling novel by British author Paula Hawkins about the disappearance of a young woman and the sole witness (Blunt) being the prime suspect.  The trailer of the movie looked promising and reminded me of David Fincher’s ‘Gone Girl,’ which undoubtedly was its very intent.

 

Blunt plays poor Rachel, a thirty-something divorced woman with a lot of issues.  Not only is she infertile and a recovering alcoholic still suffering from the lingering emotional and mental trauma of having been cheated on and tossed aside by her ex husband (Justin Theroux), who fathered a baby with his new wife Anna (Rebecca Ferguson), she’s also susceptible to disorienting blackouts which made her lose large chunks of time that she can’t recall.  Finding it hard to move on, Rachel frequently stalks her ex and his new wife from a distance, once even entering their home without permission and taking their baby (left alone for a minute) outside.  When the baby's independent young twenty-something nanny Megan (Haley Bennett), who in turn was having an affair with the cheating husband (men!) behind Anna's back (what goes around comes around), disappears and later turns up dead, Rachel becomes the chief “person of interest” in the subsequent investigation.  As damaged and baggage-laden as she may be, is Rachel truly capable of... murder?  Inquiring minds would like to know.

 

Of course, if you’ve read the book the movie would hold little suspense for you.  Not having read it, I find TGOTT to be a moderately suspenseful tale.  While the movie is uneven, slow at times, and resorts to flashbacks a lot, the central storyline and individual performances did just enough to hold my interest throughout.  Alas, ‘Gone Girl’ good this isn’t.

Grade: B+