Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

The D Train Blu-ray Movie Review

Foreshadowing its own grade.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 31, 2015

The D Train is a workmanlike Dramedy that doesn't bring much to the table in terms of narrative novelty. It's a creatively void picture and, perhaps worse, one that lacks direction and focus. The picture gets by on cast chemistry almost exclusively as it repurposes gags and pushes through the usual ebb and flow that sees high comedy evolve into heavy drama that doesn't pay off in any meaningful way beyond a tidy clean-up with a generic bit of human interest insight. A few choice moments and a strong cast save the movie from falling off the edge, but this is, on the whole, a run-of-the-mill entertainer without lofty aspirations and absent a strong foundation on which to build anything more than a watch-and-forget clunker without much appeal beyond the draw of the Black/Marsden pairing.

You. Me. Reunion. Say yes!

Daniel Landsman (Jack Black) wasn't particularly well-liked in high school, and he's not particularly well-liked two decades alter, at least not by his classmates. Most don't remember him and the ones who do are stuck on the alumni committee with him. He's a real go-getter and desperate to reconnect the class at the coming reunion, but his pleas are falling on deaf ears and his plans are going nowhere. Then, a revelation. One night while channel surfing, he spots a sunscreen commercial starring a former classmate named Oliver Lawless (James Marsden) who was the most popular guy in school. Daniel decides that if he can land Oliver for the reunion, it will trigger a domino effect that will pack the house. He heads out to the West Coast to close the deal, but when he fibs to his boss (Jeffrey Tambor) that he's skipping town to meet with a potential client, he finds himself with some unwanted baggage: the bossman himself, eager to cut a major deal in-the-flesh and at the side of his right-hand man. Daniel and Oliver hit it off surprisingly well, but their newfound companionship seems destined to hit a snag or three, particularly when Oliver comes back home with Daniel for the reunion and gets mixed up with Daniel's wife Stacey (Kathryn Hahn) and teenage son Zach (Russell Posner).

The film is less a Comedy and more a dark human interest tale that interweaves humor into the journey of a man who is desperate to pull off the best class reunion ever because...the other people on the committee haven't yet warmed up to him? They won't go get a drink with him? Jack Black's Daniel is strangely portrayed as an outsider, a loser, someone who wasn't popular in high school and who remains unpopular with his classmates into adulthood. Yet he managed to marry one of the girls from school with whom he has two kids. He's also the proud owner of a nice house and works a good job where he has a great relationship with his boss, who trusts him explicitly. All of these details come into play later in the movie as his burgeoning relationship with Oliver begins to take an emotional toll -- the fall after the (literal) high -- but the film fails to paint Daniel as a sympathetic character because, outside of the class reunion scenes, he's anything but. He's an upper middle class working hero whose got the whole nine yards going in his favor. His desperation comes off like a crutch, a necessary "something" that the movie uses to push forward and get to the topsy-turvy relationship he builds with Oliver. It's all very much inorganic and disappointingly so, a waste of a decent enough core idea that's crippled by a poorly constructed foundation.

The D-Train's story revolves around the classically expanding bubble that Daniel makes his home, a bubble made of his wrongheaded choices and blind focus and devotion to a task without the benefit of common sense foresight. In that bubble, he's sealed off from the real world while it grows ever larger with time, as the lies, misconceptions and doubts evolve and the truth comes to light, all but guaranteeing the bubble will burst, and in spectacular fashion, soon enough and at the most inopportune time for Daniel. To its credit, the picture does throw some interesting things in that bubble, including, and most prominently, a turn in Daniel's big eyed bromance man crush with Oliver that flips the entire movie on its head. But it's really when the film explores the smaller, more intimate, deeper character moments that it flashes the most potential. It's an interesting case study of a good man gone wrong in an effort to prove...something. And it's not even clear if proving that "something" is to himself or to others, or both. The setup is just too hastily constructed to make it mean much, even with his written soliloquy meant to wrap it all up in a pretty bow at the end. Regardless, Black gives it an honest go. It's certainly not his best role but he handles it with as much humor and heart as the story allows, which isn't much despite the push for both throughout. Marsden is a good companion playing a classic character whose outward appearances don't necessarily translate to what he's really feeling on the inside. But the film's best moments are reserved for Jeffrey Tambor, who plays Daniel's tech-phobic boss and delivers some seriously funny straight-faced bits when he finally opens his hopelessly out-of-date office up to the wonderful world of modern technology.

The D Train Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The D Train's 1080p transfer doesn't dazzle, but it appears to be technically proficient. The movie features a fairly bland, flat, and dull appearance, favoring a warm and diffuse look that brings a somewhat soft texturing with it. Details are proficient if not impressive, with broad stroke elements like clothes and faces revealing a fair bit intricate and intimate textures such as seams, stitches, pores, and stubble. The broader canvas' softer strokes don't leave backgrounds the epitome of crisp, but in general basic accents around homes, offices, restaurants, bars, and other locations are fine. Colors are influenced by the pervasive warmth that dominates much of the movie, but primaries -- particularly in brighter scenes -- are suitably vibrant. Black levels raise no alarms, and flesh tones appear neutral outside of the greater warmer push in places. The transfer suffers from no major instances of noise, banding, or macroblocking. It's not a stunner, but it gets the job done.

The D Train Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The D Train pulls onto Blu-ray with a technically sound but aurally basic DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The presentation yields satisfying music that offers good front end spacing, an occasional surround push, solid clarity, and a decently weighted low end. Atmospherics are nicely implemented, including casual backgrounds inside an airplane, a restaurant, and a bar, all of which prove satisfyingly immersive. The track doesn't feature all that many prominent effects outside of a jet engine that whizzes through the stage. The film is mostly a dialogue intensive one. The spoken word comes through with efficient clarity and natural front-center placement. Light reverberation is evident in a few choice spots.

The D Train Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The D Train contains only a gag reel (1080p, 3:38) and deleted scenes (1080p), including I'm Home (0:25), In the Bedroom (0:24), Fatherly Advice (0:44), Getting Ready (0:38), Cancelled Plans (1:48), Girlfriend (0:18), Dan at the Reunion (1:23), and Nosey Neighbors (1:20). Inside the Blu-ray case, buyers will also find a voucher for a UV/iTunes digital copy of the film.

The D Train Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The D Train shows flashes of promise -- how can it not with its impressive collection of stars -- but it's stymied by an unfocused narrative that never quite gets to any real, deep core ideas, despite the movie's efforts to the contrary. It aspires to dark humor and insightful characterization but winds up as an oddly concocted brew that's something altogether different, a film that's neither as funny as it should be nor as dramatically nuanced as it needs to be. Choosing one direction over the other might have worked wonders, but the combination is, sadly, a toxic one for a film that lacks the identity necessary to piece it all together. Several other films have done the "class reunion" Comedy angle far, far better, including Grosse Pointe Blank and Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion. Paramount's Blu-ray release of The D-Train features good video and audio. Supplements are on the skimpy side. Rent it.