Genre: Comedy
Directors: Andrew Mogel, Jarrad Paul
Writers: Jarrad Paul, Andrew Mogel
Stars: Jack Black, James Marsden, Kathryn Hahn
All his life, Dan Landsman (Jack Black) has never been the cool guy. That’s about to change – if he can convince Oliver Lawless (Marsden), the most popular guy from his high school who’s now the face of a national Banana Boat ad campaign, to show up with him to their class reunion. A man on a mission, Dan travels from Pittsburgh to LA and spins a web of lies to recruit Lawless. But he gets more than he bargains for as the unpredictable Lawless proceeds to take over his home, career, and entire life. Showcasing Jack Black and James Marsden’s most intoxicating performances to date, D TRAIN serves up the question: how far would you go to be popular? Co-starring Kathryn Hahn and Jeffrey Tambor. (C) IFC
The D Train reminds me of the “neo-cult hit that never was” Sundance movie City Rapids which kinda-sorta broke out in 2011 with solid reviews and decent box office. Both examine guys who never really grew up stuck in boring mid-West living who don’t have a lot to look forward to in life. The quirky, slow build up in The D Train, somewhat squanders the potential of the premise and the acting talent Black and Marsden bring to the screen. And yet oddly enough, it almost works.It meanders a bit, but hits decent comedic notes with character interactions when it is trying yet it fails when it tries too hard. Men can grow up well into their 40’s, yet high school insecurities and popularity contests still haunt them. The D Train wanted to make a statement about adults who couldn’t grow up and clinging to the past, but was ultimately unsuccessful in garnering sustained laughs nor memorable moments.
The quirky, slow build up in The D Train, somewhat squanders the potential of the premise and the acting talent Black and Marsden bring to the screen.
To my surprise, The D Train delivers the best work from James Marsden in a very long time. It is the comedic strength of a rather flimsy movie. He moves beyond Cyclops from the X-Men movies into something almost remarkable. We watch him try to overcome his cool guy persona from high school into adulthood. He still has growing up to do and needs to figure out who he is as a person. Not only do I like him in this, but I would like to see Marsden do more work like The D Train.
My main issue with The D Train that it isn’t as edgy or risky as it has fooled itself into believing it is. Maybe this is why it is receiving a quasi-wide release this weekend opening on over 1000 theater screens. This is daring for a studio that slowly rolled out Boyhood last summer. There isn’t really demand for this movie nor a lot of publicity. However, these two actors strike the right cords and IFC is taking advantage of the lack of comedies in the market place at this moment. The closest competition, Get Hard, already came and went. The third act is uncomfortable and unbelievable which will make audiences cringe. I’m not confident that this will do well and surely doesn’t justify its release.
I rate The D Train a 5.5 out of 10.
