I jumped at the chance of watching The Girl on the Train on my way to New York last week. Not only did I enjoy the audiobook of it last year (see my review here) but I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to get excited about my arrival in NYC.
Initially I was surprised to hear they were changing the location from London to New York, but in the end I don’t think the setting played much part in the film – it could have been set anywhere. This turned out to be a disappointment during my flight to NYC, but the film was entertaining enough to take my mind off all the turbulence we experienced.
As far as I can remember, the script stuck mostly to the book. The scenes jumped around quite a lot, as they do in the book, but for some reason it’s easier to follow in the book. Even for someone who knows the story, I did find myself getting confused a couple of times. I think this maybe because some of the story threads were not fully shown in the film, which is understandable in an adaptation.
I think Emily Blunt is a talented actress and she played a drunken Rachel Watson very well. All the acting in the film was good, although I don’t recall the detective in the book being as annoying as the one in the film.
The worse thing for me were the sex scenes. Although not explicit, it was terribly embarrassing to watch whilst sitting next to a complete stranger on the plane. Mind you, he was watching the American version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which also has plenty of sex scenes to blush over.
As far as entertainment goes, I enjoyed this film a lot and I recommend to those who love a mystery thriller.
I rate it 3.5 stars – the audio book got 4 stars.
Have you read the book, or listened to the audiobook? What do you think is best, book or film?
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If anyone is interested, here’s my pictures of a snowy Central Park last week. I also hope to post some more pictures of my weekend in NYC tomorrow.
Suzanne Rogerson Fantasy Author 
I haven’t read the book or watched the movie but this is the first review of the movie I’ve read where the location change wasn’t an issue! My husband is very into this genre so I will probably see the movie at some point even though I’m not bothered but at least having not read the book I will go in ‘clean’ as such. 😄
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Yes, sometimes it is better to just watch the film rather than delay to read the book first. Especially if it’s not your usual genre.
I did wonder on the need to change locations, but as I said it could have been set anywhere and told the same story.
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I think the book is best. The movie was so-so, for me it simply did not convey enough mystery as the book did.
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I agree there wasn’t enough mystery in the film. Those few scenes that were dropped could have helped maybe.
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Great post! I perferred the movie – which is unusual because I usually find that movies of books I liked never live up to my hopes! I agree with you about the location, I didn’t think it impacted it much either 🙂
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Movies don’t normally live up to the books, I agree. Exception would be Before I go to sleep – I loved the book and the film equally.
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I am waiting patiently to see this movie, as I think it will become one of my favourites so thank you for the review. 🙂
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I hope you enjoy it.
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Thank you. I noticed that it is available to rent on Sky so I just might treat myself.
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