Written and Directed by Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel
**1/2 (two and a half stars)
It is more than a bit confusing to me that a film this astute, odd and daring could also be so painfully obvious.
"The D Train," the Writing/Directing feature film debut from Jarrod Paul and Andrew Mogel, is a well intentioned, perceptively observed near miss of a film that could have benefited from a tad more nuance, ambiguity and depth. That being said, whatever minor criticisms I hold against the film certainly does not mean that Paul and Mogul didn't try their hardest because "The D Train" was effective, at times queasily so, as the duo certainly mined a true sense of pathos that Jack Black delivers in another strong performance that allowed him to stretch his dramatic wings even further within the confines of a most complicated character.
Jack Black stars as Dan Landsman, a suburban Pittsburgh husband to high school sweetheart Stacey (Kathryn Hahn), Father to their teenage son Zach (Russell Posner) and a newborn baby, and local businessman for a small company owned and operated by the kindly and old school Bill Shurmur (Jefferey Tambor). Conversely, Dan is also the highly unpopular yet self-appointed chairman of his graduating class' 20th High School Reunion committee, which is currently struggling to find willing attendees for the event.
While channel surfing late one night, Dan happens upon a national suntan lotion advertisement starring none other than Oliver Lawless (James Marsden), once the most popular kid of their graduating class. Feeling that if he is able to convince Oliver to attend the class reunion, the event will be an unquestionable success and therefore making himself, at long last, the hero, Dan travels to Los Angeles in pursuit of the supposedly famous Oliver Lawless and spinning an intricate web of lies in the process.
For a man who never at any point within his life ever existed as "the cool guy," Dan Landsman is about to discover just how far he is willing to go, and ultimately descend, in his quest to finally be popular.
With the concept of high school reunions and the resulting levels of anxiety the event causes for its main characters resting at the core, Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel's "The D Train" possesses quite a bit in common with the likes of Director George Armitage's "Grosse Point Blank" (1997) and Director Jason Reitman and Writer Diablo Cody's bruising and acerbic "Young Adult" (2011), yet unfortunately is not as entirely successful as those films. What I felt "The D Train" achieved very well was the creation of a dark, angry and deeply sad character study of a figure whose lack of popularity as a teenager has taken such severe roots within his life that he not only grows unappreciative of all of his relative good fortunes as an adult, his lack of the popularity he feels that he rightfully deserved in the past has made him a pathetic misanthrope in the present.
Paul and Mogel do mine this situation for more comedic moments, essentially contained in the film's title, as Dan desperately attempts to create a nickname for himself (all terrible, by the way) utilizing the first letter of his first name to absolutely no avail. To that end, the tales he weaves about his high school days to his peers, wife and even his son are of such falsity that while we laugh initially, we soon begin to question whether Dan is delusional. as he constantly tries to re-write the past to the point where he believes the lies over the reality, due to the considerable pain the past has caused for him.
By the time he makes it to Los Angeles, after weaving lies to both his wife and boss about the purpose of his trip, and has now embarked upon a night's worth of cocaine, pain pills, and copious amounts of alcohol alongside Oliver Lawless solely to keep pace and to hopefully snare him for the class reunion, we are really only just beginning to see the lengths of Dan's deceptions to those closest to him as well as himself and the aftermath threatens to unravel him.
Before I continue, dear readers, I have to say that I actually cannot believe that I am about to reference the following film within this review but it actually does indeed serve a purpose. Here goes..
In Director Michael Miller's horrendously unwatchable and unfunny "National Lampoon's Class Reunion" (1982), which was indeed written by John Hughes, there was just one kernel of a good idea lodged deeply within the excruciating horror film parody: the character of Gary Nash, a figure so bland that not even one of his classmates are able to remember who he was. With regards to "The D Train," the character of Dan Landsman is a portrait of a very similar figure conceived and portrayed much more realistically and Jack Black skillfully finds the right notes that occasionally cut to the bone. With this role, I truly have to give considerable credit to Jack Black for again taking risks in order to grow as an actor as his performance, while not quite reaching the heights of his career best work in Writer/Director Richard Linklater's "Bernie" (2011), shines from the same level of commitment and his willingness to fearlessly travel down some dark alleys.
Dan Landsman is a man consumed with a sense of quiet rage the bubbles and later explodes for injustices that only he is able to perceive and the class reunion serves as his final attempt for him to claim what he felt was his all along. This quality does indeed bring the character within the realm of Rupert Pupkin, Robert DeNiro's classic delusional misanthrope from Director Martin Scorsese's "The King Of Comedy" (1983), or at least Patton Oswalt's disturbed football fanatic in Writer/Director Robert D. Siegel's "Big Fan" (2009), and Black's work within "The D Train" is often heartbreaking as well as more than a little unnerving.
James Marsden, an actor who has never quite grown on me, also delivers some fine, textured work in the character of Oliver Lawless, a figure who falls into the same traps as Dan yet he arrives through the opposite side if the mirror of popularity. Yes, Lawless has snagged the leading role in a national commercial but when we first see him is Los Angeles, we can immediately see that this just may be his only big break, something that Dan refuses to see as he remains so in love with the high school hero of his past. But, what happens if you are an individual who has peaked at the age of 17 and has simply continued to fall further and further ever since?
For Oliver, attending the class reunion allows him to play into his classmates' (especially Dan's) perceptions and fantasies of being the one person who escaped the small town for greater fortunes out in the big, bad world. Regarding his relationship with Dan, this situation provides Oliver with a false sense of power, which he manipulates to his advantage once he does arrive back in his hometown and crashing in Dan's home with his family to boot. Dan, being so star struck and manipulative, doesn't realize initially that he is the one being manipulated. If Oliver Lawless is such a big time actor, why doesn't Dan ever question why he had to foot Oliver's plane fare and provide him a place to stay? It is only when Dan feels that his own sense of imagined power is threatened and ultimately, usurped that his fears of failure and insignificance are unleashed in a morass of bad behavior resulting in potentially disastrous consequences. But all is truly upended when Dan's fears of failure and insignificance collide with Oliver's.
Without revealing any spoilers, I will say that "The D Train" contains one sequence that truly arrived like a slap in the face and if you do scour the internet, I am more than certain that you will indeed discover what the sequence is. It is the moment where these two characters of Dan and Oliver collectively make a fascinating and even disturbing commentary upon the sometimes insidious nature of popularity and the power one can easily wield over another in the process. While shocking, it is not a sequence of shock value but it was one that made me truly snap to attention as it seemed that at last, "The D Train," after its lengthy set-up, had been so spun on its axis that the remainder of the film would follow suit in an equally audacious fashion. Well...
Despite the strong characterizations and performances and also for not treating the aforementioned spoiler free scene as a disingenuous nudge-nudge-wink-wink moment. and I do commend Paul and Mogel for taking every moment within the film very seriously, I did wish that they actually had more to say than they presented.
For so much of the first third or so of "The D Train," I kept wondering to myself just why oh why Dan does not see the obvious quality of his life as it is. Yes, I get it. He feels denied of some sense of recognition and admiration that he feels that he is most deserving. Even so, for all of his unpopularity, during his teen years and in his adult life, he did end up married to a very lovely wife, is now a Father, is set within his career, is a home owner and so on, and frankly, he possesses so much more than what some people are graced with in life. Again and yes, I understand that Dan's inability to see the greatness he has already made for himself is (partially) what makes "The D Train" a tragic comedy. But I do think we can easily gather this assessment of Dan very early in the film and therefore, we end up just waiting for the duration of the film to discover whether Dan finally sees, or does not see, his life for what it is and additionally Oliver for what he is and is not. This aspect gives "The D Train" an "is that all there is?" quality which does rub against the good and unrepentantly uncomfortable material that is often on display.
But, please do not let any negative thoughts from me persuade you from not giving a new independent film a chance, especially one that is just so close as this one. In fact Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel have indeed created quite the cinematic calling card. One that makes me very curious to see what they come up with next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment