--- title: "The Girl on the Train" year: 2016 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-girl-on-the-train" fi1m_id: "the-girl-on-the-train" imdb_id: "tt3631112" tmdb_id: 346685 wikidata_id: "Q21433535" fi1m_score: 52 critics_score: 46 critics_reviews: 28 published: "2026-10-02T23:37:39.845554+00:00" updated: "2026-10-02T23:37:40.490508+00:00" region: "DK" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Girl on the Train (2016) Directed by Tate Taylor · 1h 52m · Medierådet 15 · Crime, Mystery, Thriller ## Identity The Girl on the Train - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-girl-on-the-train - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** the-girl-on-the-train - **IMDb ID:** tt3631112 - **TMDB ID:** 346685 - **Wikidata ID:** Q21433535 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3631112/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/346685, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21433535 **Fi1m score: 52** · Critics 46 from 28 reviews *In a sentence:* Three unhappy women, one commuter train and a mystery you could solve from the platform > Emily Blunt is careful and unglamorous as a woman drinking herself out of her life, and deserves a better mystery than this tidy, glum one, solvable before the police arrive. Watch her, not the plot. ## Synopsis Rachel Watson (Emily Blunt) rides a commuter train twice a day, and it slows at the same bend beside a row of houses backing onto the line. One was hers; her ex-husband Tom (Justin Theroux) lives there now with his new wife Anna (Rebecca Ferguson) and their baby. A few doors down live Megan Hipwell (Haley Bennett) and her husband Scott (Luke Evans), strangers Rachel has decided are happy. Rachel is drinking and has lost her job. Then she sees Megan on her balcony with a man who is not Scott. Next morning Rachel wakes bruised, with no memory of the night, and Megan is missing. ## Review Tate Taylor’s film of Paula Hawkins’s novel is built around three women who live, or used to live, on the same stretch of suburban railway. Rachel Watson (Emily Blunt) rides past their houses twice a day and makes up lives for the people inside. Erin Cressida Wilson’s screenplay keeps the book’s three narrators and its hopping about in time, and it keeps the mystery, which is where the trouble starts. Blunt is worth your evening on her own. The film around her is tidy, glum and solvable from a long way off. Blunt plays Rachel as a woman who has not stopped drinking so much as stopped noticing that she drinks. She tips vodka into a water bottle, sketches on a napkin, and tells her flatmate Cathy (Laura Prepon) about a working day she has not had in a year. Her eyes are red at the rims and she holds them quite still, as drunks do when they want to look sober. In a flashback she arrives at her ex-husband’s door, unsteady and too loud, and Blunt shows us the exact moment Rachel sees what she looks like to the people watching. We winced for her, and it is the one thing in the film we did not need to be asked to feel. Michael McCusker and Andrew Buckland cut between Rachel, Megan Hipwell (Haley Bennett) and Anna Watson (Rebecca Ferguson), with captions telling us whose scene it is and how many months ago. Charlotte Bruus Christensen shoots nearly everything in close-up and shallow focus, so faces fill the frame and the backgrounds dissolve; for Rachel’s blackouts she lets the image smear and lurch, which works the first time and is a habit by the fourth. The intention is that we are as lost as Rachel. The result, often, is that we are unsure what day it is. The mystery does not survive an attentive viewer. Megan vanishes, Rachel wakes bruised with a hole where the evening should be, and Detective Sgt. Riley (Allison Janney) starts asking questions. We had our answer at about the forty-minute mark and spent the rest wanting to be wrong. The men do not help. Justin Theroux as Tom, Luke Evans as Scott and Édgar Ramírez as Dr. Kamal Abdic are each given one temperature and asked to hold it. Janney is brisk and sceptical and could have used three more scenes. Lisa Kudrow, as Martha, gets one, and makes more of it than most of the cast get to make of the whole film. Danny Elfman’s score is the surprise. He has set aside the carnival brass he is known for and written something low and electronic, a pulse under the dialogue, and in the stretches when the film goes quiet it does more work than the plot. Kevin Thompson’s production design gives the houses by the track big glass backs, so every kitchen is lit for anyone passing on the train. Ann Roth and Michelle Matland put Rachel in a grey coat that does not quite fit and Anna in the pale knitwear of a woman with nothing to do all day. All of it is more thoughtful than the story it serves. Wilson wrote *Secretary*, which knew how perverse it wanted to be, and Taylor made [*The Help*](https://film.one/film/the-help), which knew how respectable. This film sits between them and commits to neither. Hawkins’s book was sold as the next [*Gone Girl*](https://film.one/film/gone-girl), and David Fincher’s film of that one is the obvious comparison; Fincher let the nastiness show, Taylor keeps the lights low and asks for sympathy. The second half takes turns we will not describe. We will say the film uses Rachel’s drinking as a device for not knowing things, while Blunt plays it as an illness that is happening to a person, and the two never quite meet. Most critics landed in the middle, and so do we, a little above the angrier notices. The 15 certificate covers sex and blood kept mostly off camera. Watch it at home, where you can rewind to check whose month you are in, and watch it for Blunt, who is doing the real thing. Do not watch it for the answer. You will have it before she does. *Fi1m score 52, published 2 October 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics find The Girl on the Train a disappointment, and the reviews lean mixed to negative rather than hostile. Where they agree is on Emily Blunt. Nearly every notice, including the pans, says her performance as Rachel, a fractured alcoholic, is the one thing worth watching, and several credit her with holding the film together. Danny Elfman’s unusual score gets a second, smaller round of praise. The reservations cluster on the storytelling: a mystery several critics guess early, clumsy shifts between the women’s perspectives, and a plot that grows less convincing as it goes. Critics split on the adaptation itself, some finding it too faithful to the novel, others saying it throws away the book’s sharper ideas. The spread is wide, from Digital Spy’s warm notice to outright pans from Vulture, The New Yorker and the Los Angeles Times. Empire is the lone dissenter on Blunt, calling her casting unconvincing. ## Straight answers **Is The Girl on the Train worth watching?** *The Girl on the Train* is worth watching for Emily Blunt and not much else, and we scored it 52. She plays a woman drinking herself out of her life with care and no glamour, and the mystery around her is tidy, glum and solvable long before the police catch up. Watch it at home, for her, and not for the answer. **How long is The Girl on the Train, and what is it rated?** *The Girl on the Train* runs 1h 52m and is rated 15 by the Medierådet in Denmark. It is a crime and mystery film. **Where can I watch The Girl on the Train in Denmark?** *The Girl on the Train* is streaming on HBO Max in Denmark, and it is also available to rent from Apple TV from kr 39.00. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How violent or frightening is The Girl on the Train, and is it suitable for children?** *The Girl on the Train* is a 15 certificate in the UK and R in the US, and is not suitable for children. The sex and blood are kept mostly off camera, but the film is adult in subject throughout: a missing woman, a violent night nobody remembers, and heavy drinking shown as an illness. It is more grim than frightening, and the squeamish will manage. **How does The Girl on the Train compare to Gone Girl?** *The Girl on the Train* was sold as the next [*Gone Girl*](https://film.one/film/gone-girl), and the earlier film is the better one by a distance. David Fincher let the nastiness show and plotted his marriage thriller so it kept its shape; Tate Taylor keeps the lights low, asks for sympathy and gives away his answer early. Choose *Gone Girl* for the puzzle, this one only for Emily Blunt. **Is The Girl on the Train based on a true story or a book?** *The Girl on the Train* is based on Paula Hawkins's novel, not on a true story. Erin Cressida Wilson's screenplay keeps the book's three narrators and its hopping about in time, and keeps the mystery, which is where the trouble starts. Readers of the novel will know the answer; everyone else will likely have it by the forty-minute mark anyway. **What should I watch after The Girl on the Train?** After *The Girl on the Train*, try [*Gone Girl*](https://film.one/film/gone-girl) (2014, Fi1m 84): The marriage thriller this one was sold as; colder, nastier and far better plotted. Then [*Rear Window*](https://film.one/film/rear-window) (1954, Fi1m 94): Watching the neighbours from a fixed seat, done once and never bettered; and [*The Lost Weekend*](https://film.one/film/the-lost-weekend) (1945, Fi1m 82): A drinker’s days treated as the subject rather than the alibi; Ray Milland is remarkable. ### Reviews we read (28) - **Screen Daily**, Tim Grierson (64/100, inferred): The accessible page identifies this as a review, but its verdict is behind the paywall. The available text does not reveal what the critic praised or criticized. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-girl-on-the-train-review/5109956.article) - **The New York Times** (64/100, inferred): The page content is unavailable, so the critic’s verdict cannot be established. No specific praise or complaint can be verified. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/07/movies/the-girl-on-the-train-review-emily-blunt.html) - **The AV Club**, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky (C+): Vishnevetsky finds the film a campy, plot-hole-riddled attempt to emulate Gone Girl that falls short. He praises Emily Blunt’s committed performance but says the polished direction and confused handling of perspective undermine the story. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/the-campy-girl-on-the-train-can-t-catch-up-to-gone-girl-1798188995) - **Radio Times**, Stella Papamichael (3/5): The critic calls it a neat but overly tidy domestic thriller that adds few surprises. Emily Blunt’s casting as Rachel is singled out as its most compelling deviation from the novel. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-6oerv0/the-girl-on-the-train/) - **The Guardian**, Mark Kermode (3/5): Kermode finds the film worthwhile despite its shortcomings, largely because Emily Blunt holds it together. He particularly praises her mesmerising, convincing portrayal of a fractured, alcoholic heroine. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/oct/09/the-girl-on-the-train-review-emily-blunt-paula-hawkins) - **The i Paper**, Matthew Turner (★★★): Turner calls it a serviceable, faithful adaptation that ultimately amplifies the novel’s problems. He praises Emily Blunt and Haley Bennett’s performances, while faulting the easily guessed mystery and inconsistent plotting. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/girl-train-film-review-24427) - **Time Out**, Cath Clarke (3/5): The critic calls it a solid thriller. The review singles out its transformation of the bestselling novel into a film, though the adaptation has drawn criticism from fans of the book. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-girl-on-the-train-2) - **Total Film**, James Mottram (3/5): The review finds that the film is too slavishly faithful to the novel and never becomes a cinematic equivalent. Emily Blunt’s convincing, sympathetic performance is singled out for praise. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/the-girl-on-the-train-review/) - **Variety**, Owen Gleiberman (55/100, inferred): Gleiberman finds the thriller only so-so, though its lurid psychodrama and craft make it engaging before it falters. He particularly praises Emily Blunt’s tender, luminous performance, while criticizing the film’s increasingly unconvincing plot and campy climax. [Read](https://variety.com/2016/film/reviews/the-girl-on-the-train-review-emily-blunt-1201872781/) - **IndieWire**, David Ehrlich (D+): Ehrlich pans the adaptation as a flavorless, toothless thriller that discards the novel’s sharper ideas. He praises Emily Blunt’s vivid, emotionally charged performance as Rachel. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/the-girl-on-the-train-review-movie-emily-blunt-justin-theroux-1201732517/) - **Slant Magazine**, Christopher Gray (1.5/4): Gray finds the film a joyless, plodding thriller that mishandles its complex narrative and female characters. He singles out the joke about the men’s affair-related passwords as the film’s lone shred of wit. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-girl-on-the-train-2016/) - **Evening Standard**, David Sexton (30/100, inferred): Sexton finds the film weak overall, criticizing its casting and reliance on cheap tricks. He singles out Emily Blunt’s unvarnished performance as its greatest strength. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/the-girl-on-the-train-film-review-and-you-thought-your-commute-was-bad-a3363386.html) - **Empire**, Jonathan Pile (25/100, inferred): Pile finds the film’s mystery unengaging and its twists ineffective. He praises the honest treatment of alcoholism but faults Emily Blunt’s casting as unconvincing. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/girl-train-2-review/) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Todd McCarthy (15/100, inferred): McCarthy finds the thriller dreary, one-dimensional, and ultimately unsurprising. He singles out Danny Elfman’s unusual score as the film’s standout, saying it nearly makes the film seem good. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/girl-train-review-934350/) - **Los Angeles Times**, Justin Chang (10/100, inferred): Chang finds the film an incoherent, inept potboiler that fails to turn its mystery into suspense. He praises Emily Blunt’s committed performance, which has affecting moments despite the film’s flaws. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-girl-train-review-20160930-snap-story.html) - **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane (10/100, inferred): Lane pans the film as dour, muddled, and dramatically unconvincing. He particularly objects to its treatment of alcoholism as a plot device rather than a serious theme. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/17/the-girl-on-the-train-and-under-the-shadow) - **Vulture**, David Edelstein (10/100, inferred): Edelstein pans the film as a badly told thriller that fails to create suspense. He praises Emily Blunt’s performance but faults the close camera work and clumsy shifts between perspectives. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2016/10/movie-review-the-girl-on-the-train.html) - **Digital Spy**, Rosie Fletcher (80/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a successful, engaging thriller with timely themes. She especially praises Emily Blunt’s performance and the film’s depiction of Rachel’s drunken spells. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a809680/the-girl-on-the-train-review/) - **Collider**, Perri Nemiroff (B-): Nemiroff finds the film entertaining but weighed down by melodrama and loose ends. She praises Emily Blunt’s committed performance, which keeps viewers invested despite the film’s flaws. [Read](https://collider.com/the-girl-on-the-train-review-emily-blunt/) - **Deadline**, Pete Hammond (65/100, inferred): Hammond finds the film effective on its own terms, though it wallows too much in sleaze and its male characters feel one-dimensional. He especially praises Emily Blunt’s luminous performance, along with the editing and eerie score. [Read](https://deadline.com/2016/10/the-girl-on-the-train-review-emily-blunt-tate-taylor-video-1201830759/) - **/Film**, Jack Giroux (6.5/10): Giroux calls the film a decent, sometimes-above-average adaptation that is carried by its performances. He especially praises Emily Blunt for grounding the thriller with a sorrowful, compelling portrayal of Rachel. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/547038/the-girl-on-the-train-spoiler-review/) - **HeyUGuys** (65/100, inferred): The review finds the thriller worth watching despite a disappointing final act. It particularly praises Emily Blunt’s nuanced, empathetic performance as Rachel. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/the-girl-on-the-train-review/) - **Den of Geek**, Chloe Catchpole (3/5): Catchpole finds the film ultimately delivers despite a superficial narrative and a stumble in its second act. She praises Emily Blunt’s brutally authentic performance and singles out Danny Elfman’s score as a highlight. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-girl-on-the-train-review-2/) - **Paste**, Andy Crump (6.0/10): Crump finds the film frustratingly safe and predictable despite flashes of lurid potential. He praises Emily Blunt’s performance, while criticizing the underwritten supporting women and the delayed turn to camp. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/the-girl-on-the-train/the-girl-on-the-train) - **Eye for Film**, Angus Wolfe Murray (50/100, inferred): The review is mixed, finding the film’s focus on Rachel compelling but its supporting characters underdeveloped. It singles out Emily Blunt’s performance as giving the film a centre and purpose. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-girl-on-the-train-2016-film-review-by-angus-wolfe-murray) - **Consequence**, Allison Shoemaker (25/100, inferred): The critic finds the adaptation deeply disappointing, despite its earnest intentions and strong lead performance. Emily Blunt is singled out for a dynamic, emotionally raw portrayal that rises above the film’s contrivances. [Read](https://consequence.net/2016/10/film-review-the-girl-on-the-train/) - **The Playlist** (20/100, inferred): The review appears negative, describing the film as joyless. It suggests the film would have benefited from going further off the rails. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/joyless-girl-train-couldve-benefitted-going-off-rails-little-review-20161006/) - **The Wrap** (20/100, inferred): The critic finds the adaptation incoherent and suspense-free, with flat direction and a strained narrative. Emily Blunt’s performance is the one element praised for giving viewers a compelling character to hold onto. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/the-girl-on-the-train-review-emily-blunt/) ## Details - **Director:** Tate Taylor - **Director:** Tate Taylor - **Screenplay:** Erin Cressida Wilson - **Novel:** Paula Hawkins - **Cinematography:** Charlotte Bruus Christensen - **Editor:** Michael McCusker, Andrew Buckland - **Music:** Danny Elfman - **Production design:** Kevin Thompson - **Costume design:** Ann Roth, Michelle Matland - **Producer:** Marc Platt, Jared LeBoff - **Cast:** Emily Blunt as Rachel Watson; Rebecca Ferguson as Anna Watson; Haley Bennett as Megan Hipwell; Luke Evans as Scott Hipwell; Justin Theroux as Tom Watson; Allison Janney as Detective Sgt. Riley; Lisa Kudrow as Martha; Laura Prepon as Cathy - **Runtime:** 1h 52m - **Certificate (Medierådet):** 15 - **Release (Denmark):** 3 November 2016 - **Genres:** Crime, Mystery, Thriller - **Budget:** $45 million - **Box office:** $173 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5yk-HGqKmM ## Where to watch in Denmark - HBO Max: streaming - Apple TV: rent kr 39.00, hd - Apple TV: buy kr 79.00, hd *Checked 2026-10-02.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, HK, IE, IT, JP, KR, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PH, PL, PT, SE, SG, TH, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Gone Girl* (2014), Fi1m 84: The marriage thriller this one was sold as; colder, nastier and far better plotted. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/gone-girl.md) - *Rear Window* (1954), Fi1m 94: Watching the neighbours from a fixed seat, done once and never bettered. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/rear-window.md) - *The Lost Weekend* (1945), Fi1m 82: A drinker’s days treated as the subject rather than the alibi; Ray Milland is remarkable. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-lost-weekend.md) - *Big Little Lies* (2017), Fi1m 78: Three women, one coastline, one body; the long form gives the supporting cast their due. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/big-little-lies.md) - *The Vanishing* (1988), Fi1m 88: A disappearance, a man who cannot let it go, and an ending that still unsettles. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-vanishing.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-girl-on-the-train