Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Not Your Normal Chick Flick

If you've been reading my movie reviews here, you'll know that I have gone to see some films for odd reasons.

Time to kill in between appointments.

Waiting for my car to be serviced.

My housekeeper was coming and I needed to be out of the house.

Well, I've got a new one.  A couple of weeks back, they were power washing the building I live in.  Do you have any idea what that machine sounds like?

Yeppers, that's how I went to see "The Girl on the Train."

Okay, I had some previous knowledge about this one.   I knew that it was based on this best selling novel and that women just loved the story.  After seeing it, I now know why.   Trust me, if you're a guy who takes a girl to see this movie on a date, you will break up ten minutes afterwards.   Because she will no longer trust you.

For those unfamiliar with the tale, it's set in the Hudson River towns along the Metro North railroad and that's my old hood, gang.   Clearly, it was filmed in spots like Hastings and Dobbs Ferry and Ardsley because the locations were very authentic to me.  Rachel is an alcoholic divorced from a guy who was having an affair with some other woman that he eventually marries.   From the get go, we don't like him.

Meanwhile, down the block, there's another girl named Megan in a bad marriage and she turns up missing.   It seems like Rachel, who's been stalking the neighborhood in between gulps of liquor, might know something about what happened to Megan.   She's suspicious as all hell to the detective on the case, played by the always welcome Allison Janney.  

Of course, things unravel even further for Rachel and the flashbacks even make her believe that she knows what happened to Megan.   Now, the stilted way this thing was written, I knew exactly midway through who had done what to who. As a mystery, it's weak.   But, somehow, the acting sucks you in, especially Emily Blunt as Rachel and Justin (Mr. Jennifer Aniston) Theroux as the hubby. Throw in a brief appearance from an unrecognizable Lisa "Gee, What Doctor Did This to You" Kudrow and you have at least an entertaining diversion.

Hard to believe, I liked "The Girl on the Train," where ladies rule and all men suck...literally and figuratively.  Given this year's Presidential discourse, "The Girl on the Train" speaks to that audience.   At the same time, the men are such dirtbags that they might even be proud of their behavior.   Here's a movie where you can see Donald Trump and Bill Clinton share an armrest and a big bucket of buttered popcorn.

So, you won't be steered wrong if you see "The Girl on the Train."   And, if you're lucky like me, you'll come home to a sparkling clean building exterior.

LEN'S RATING:  Three stars.

Dinner last night:  Grilled steak salad.

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