The trailers really did serve their purpose marketing The Girl on the Train. I didn’t know whether to expect a sexy, psychotic women out of control or a female peeping tom with an obsession. The Girl on the Train wasn’t a big hit with movie fans (only achieving 6.7 on IMBD). Some people told me the movie was too predictable. I, on the other hand, felt The Girl on the Train was pretty good. I like to think of myself as above average figuring out who done it. While I briefly suspected who the guilty party was, I dismissed my resolve because I couldn’t completely make it stick. The Girl on the Train, Rachael Watson (Emily Blunt) turns out to be an alcoholic who divorced her husband, Tom Watson (Justin Theroux), after catching him cheating on her with their real estate agent, Anna Boyd (Rebecca Ferguson). The train Rachael rides appears to be the Metro North running through White Plains.
Rachel grows a fascination with Tom’s neighbors, a young couple, Scott (Luke Evans) and Megan Hipwell (Haley Bennett), who she believes has a perfect marriage. Having seen the couple engaged in the throws of passion, which could clearly be seen from where she sits on the train, helped her come to this conclusion. In reality, Scott is aggressive and controlling, while Megan is detached and unfaithful for which she is seeking help from her psychiatrist, Dr. Kamal Abdic (Édgar Ramírez). As the story progresses, we began to learn Rachael’s story. We learn she has a self esteem problem in addition to her psychotic behavior and shares an apartment with her friend Cathy (Laura Prepon). We also learn she often stalks her former husband, Tom along with his new wife, Anna and their newborn daughter Evie.
I will not tell any more about this story because it’s too easy to give away the bottom line. I have given enough spoilers away. The Girl on the Train, in my opinion, is a descent movie with a tad too many twists and turns. The ending was acted out a little like a horror movie when the audience yells for the trauma victim to do something other than stand there. I still thought it was entertaining and not as unworthy as some others I’ve seen.
Joy is based on someones real life but this is not their true story. Joy is a semi-biographical story of a divorced mother with two children in the early 1990s who became a multi-millionaire by inventing the Miracle Mop among other inventions. Joy’s full name is Joy Mangano (Jennifer Lawrence) and in this film she is living the “mother” of set ups; Joy and her mother, Terry (Virginia Madsen) live on the main floor, Joy’s ex-husband, Tony Miranne (Édgar Ramírez) live in the basement, the children and her grandmother, Mimi (Diane Ladd) live up stairs. To top things off, her father’s 3rd wife Cindy (Drena De Niro) has just returned him to Joy, for good, so now he’s living with Joy’s ex-husband in the basement. I should add that Joy’s husband and father, Rudy Mangano (Robert De Niro) hate each other. Joy also has a half sister Peggy, (Elisabeth Röhm) who is very close to her father but are miles apart from her sister Joy. Peggy uses every chance she gets to exploit Joy, needless to say, they do not get along. Despite Joy’s crazy life, she manages to stay focused on her dream of becoming an entrepreneur. While sailing on her father’s newest girlfriend Trudy’s (Isabella Rossellini) yacht, Joy gets an idea when she cuts her hand cleaning up a spill from a broken glass of wine. This incident leads to Trudy becoming Joy’s financier, which eventually leads to Joy meeting Neil Walker, (Bradley Cooper) an executive at QVC. Dascha Polanco plays Jackie, Joy’s best friend who was instrumental in motivating Joy throughout the entire process. There are many, many players in this movie and even thought it seems as though I’ve given the whole story away, I’m far from it. We all know of the Miracle Mop because most of us purchased one, at least I did. Many more characters show up and many more twist and turns happen.
CAROL's WORLDS 