Movie Musings: The Girl On The Train

My favorite thing to do on a rainy day is go to the movies. Yesterday afternoon I braved the downpours to head to Assembly Row to see The Girl On The Train. I was particularly excited about the movie because I had just read the book in August (you can read my book review here). 

When I found out Emily Blunt was cast as the lead character, Rachel, I was very surprised. In the book, Rachel is described as an overweight, disheveled alcoholic. Emily Blunt seemed too beautiful and refined to play such a hot mess. Well, I am happy to say she proved me wrong. In this role Blunt was very convincing both in her moments of intoxicated panic and in her moments of sincere pain and longing as she remembered the life she once had. 

Rachel's ex-husband, Tom, is played by Jennifer Aniston's real-life husband Justin Theroux. Theroux most closely resembles what I pictured in my head when I was reading the book. He inhabits Tom with the Jekyll and Hyde duality necessary to pull off the twist at the very end. 

Tom's new wife, Anna, is played by Rebecca Ferguson who was new to me, but you may recognize from The White Queen on STARZ. Anna gets much less screen time than she gets in the book. I didn't mind skipping over her many fights with Tom about Rachel's drunken, late-night phone calls. 

Tom and Anna's neighbors, Scott and Megan Hipwell, are brought to life by actors Luke Evans and Hayley Bennett. You may recognize Luke Evans from The Hobbit movies. He is also going to play Gaston in the live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast. 

Hayley Bennett played the role of Megan Hipwell even more convincingly than the character read on the page. She was simultaneously complicated and bewitching. 

The plot of the movie stayed mostly true to the book with a few exceptions. The book is set in London and the movie is set in New York. In the book Rachel's roommate Kathy is awful and in the movie she is quite caring (played by Laura Prepon of Orange is the New Black). In the book Megan's therapist is Indian and in the movie he's Hispanic. Other than that, it was practically a mirror image. 

There were many scenes in the book that gave me chills or turned my stomach. Those scenes were ten times harder to watch on the big screen. There were several times I was holding my breath, covering my eyes or burying my face in my sweatshirt. I would also say, if you are a new mom, this movie will be very hard to watch. There are two separate story lines involving very young children that would disturb anyone, let alone someone with a little one of her own. 

If you also saw the movie this weekend I would love to hear what you thought. Let me know in the comments below. 

*Image sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.