It’s hard not to like THE D TRAIN, a witty, well-made celebration of friendship in which two very different guys come to know and appreciate each other – if maybe a bit too much. Jack Black stars as Dan Landsman, a schlubby married Pittsburgh dad enthusiastically heading up his 20th high school reunion committee even though he’s so unpopular the rest of the group heads out for beers after their meetings without inviting him along. The board members have been unable to muster much support for the reunion, but things change when Dan spots a TV commercial starring former classmate and school stud Oliver Lawless (James Marsden), now the face of ‘Banana Boat’ sunblock ad campaign. If Dan can get Oliver to attend the reunion, he figures others will follow suit just to rub elbows with a TV star, making him a hero. Dan works for a consulting firm headed by a technology-challenged boss (Jeffrey Tambor), to whom he concocts a series of lies to justify a trip to L.A. to pursue a potential, non-existent client. Once in L.A., a starstruck Dan quickly hooks up with Oliver, who turns out to be a hard-drinking, cocaine-snorting party boy who’s not nearly as successful an actor as Dan has been lead to believe. They enjoy a wasted night on the town and even run into Oliver’s “pal” Dermot Mulroney (playing himself). When the two stumble back to Oliver’s one-room apartment, they continue to enjoy each other’s company in a Brokeback Mountain kind of way in a scene that is going to make a lot of guys in the audience squirm, but only those who are uncomfortable with their own masculinity (…….just kidding! – all guys will squirm and that one-second shot of Jack Black on the receiving end of some man-love will live in cinema infamy). After this surprising turn, the action moves back to Pittsburgh, where Dan returns to his wife Stacey (Katheryn Hahn) a changed, if confused man. Oliver agrees to attend the reunion, which sets things up for an uncomfortable climactic confrontation.
At the end of the day THE D TRAIN is a pretty formulaic bromantic comedy, and that unexpected twist it has can’t hide that fact, but it’s done well, which counts for a lot, and the chemistry between leading men Jack Black and James Marsden is fantastic. What’s impressive about co-directors Andrew Mogel and Jarrad Paul’s screenplay is the way it explores the complexities of modern, grown-up friendships, and the awkwardness of renewing old acquaintances in middle age, while retaining a bracing sense of adolescent humor. The funniest bits involve Dan covering his lies and Jeffrey Tambor discovering them by learning to use the internet. Too often in these guy-centric comedies, women are little more than ornaments or plot obstacles. Mogel and Paul have balanced their film extremely well, with equal time given to Dan and his wife as much as Dan and Oliver, so that their relationship actually does feel real and not just a convenient plot contrivance. The talented Kathryn Hahn’s Stacey is a supportive figure for Dan and her fine work here ought to add to the fan following she has built in other big-screen comedies as well as on Parks and Recreation. It is the performances that make THE D TRAIN work. Everyone is, for the most part, subdued rather than over-the-top including Jack Black in his first lead since BERNIE four years ago, and it finds him more restrained than we remember him. He’s still adept as ever at reactions and the physical fat-guy stuff, and his clumsily injecting street slang to impress Oliver (hence the title) is a funny gag. Dead-pan Tambor is hysterical and oddball Mike White shines in a couple of scenes as Dan’s fellow reunion committee member. But it’s James Marsden who hijacks THE D TRAIN and runs away with it. The actor has played these impossibly-handsome-guy roles for almost two decades now. Ever since he was John Wilkes Booth, the ‘first male model’ in ZOOLANDER, Marsden has shown a great knack for comedy but his Oliver Lawless – complex and haunted, is his best work. The sad scene where he pretends to know Dermot Mulroney is awkward and note-perfect as is the hilarious one where he gives Dan’s 14-year old son (Russell Posner) advice on his first sexual three-way. Marsden’s performance here is loose and confident and attractive. He makes THE D TRAIN one to catch.
4 of 5 Stars
THE D TRAIN opens in St. Louis May 8th at, among other places, Landmark’s The Tivoli Theater
