The Girl on the Train is a 2016 American mystery supernatural-psychological thriller drama film directed by Tate Taylor and written by Erin Cressida Wilson, based on the popular 2015 debut novel of the same name by British author Paula Hawkins.

The film stars Emily Blunt, Rebecca Ferguson, Haley Bennett, Justin Theroux, Luke Evans, Allison Janney, Édgar Ramírez, and Lisa Kudrow.

Recovering alcoholic Rachel Watson aimlessly rides a train into New York City every day after losing her job and her marriage.

During her marriage to Tom, Rachel became depressed about her infertility and developed a drinking problem which led to continual blackouts and destructive behavior.

Believing Abdic is involved in Megan's disappearance, Rachel schedules an appointment with him, but winds up discussing her own emotional issues.

Scott enters Rachel's house and confronts her for lying about knowing Megan, directing the police toward Abdic, and leaving him as the new prime suspect.

Rachel tries to report the assault to the police, believing Scott's violence suggests he may have murdered Megan, but Riley says that he has been ruled out as a suspect as there is surveillance footage of him at a bar at the time.

On the train, Rachel sees Martha, the wife of Tom's former boss, and apologizes for her behavior at the barbecue where she believes she broke a platter, threw food, and insulted Martha; the latter states that she got sick and took a nap in their guest room, contrary to what she believed and in actuality Tom had been fired for having sexually harassed co-workers.

Rachel realizes that Tom planted false memories in her head during her drinking binges, and was also physically violent with her during her blackouts, which accounts for the injuries she had when she awoke.

[15][16] In October, Édgar Ramírez joined the film to play Dr. Kamal Abdic, who is having an affair with the married Megan, and becomes a suspect in her disappearance.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Emily Blunt's outstanding performance isn't enough to keep The Girl on the Train from sliding sluggishly into exploitative melodrama.

[33] IGN critic Terri Schwartz gave the film a score of 5.5/10, writing: "The Girl on the Train has a talented cast, but ultimately squanders it for the sake of a hollow, ponderous plot.

Alternately overly convoluted and predictable, the film relies too heavily on its twists while offering little in the way of character development, leaving its three central women as unrelatable and unlikable stereotypes.

"[37] Rolling Stone's Peter Travers gave the film a positive review, commenting that: "[T]he movie gives away the game faster than the novel, but Emily Blunt digs so deep into the role of a blackout drunk and maybe murderer that she raises Girl to the level of spellbinder.

"[38] Chicago Sun-Times' Richard Roeper gave 2 stars out 4, and said that the film is "shiny trash that begins with promise but quickly gets tripped up by its own screenplay and grows increasingly ludicrous and melodramatic, to the point where I was barely able to suppress a chuckle at some of the final scenes".