The D Train

Dan (Jack Black) is on his Pittsburgh high school's 20th year reunion committee. A campus outcast (then and now), Dan hopes to recruit Oliver Lawless (James Marsden)—a former classmate whom Dan sees hawking sunscreen in a TV commercial, and mistakenly assumes that he is a big star. Dan invents a phony business lead to induce his boss to send him to L.A., where he hopes to sweet-talk Lawless into attending the festivities. Naturally things go awry: Dan's boss insists on coming, and Lawless proves to be a desperate, unemployed guy who mostly likes to party. When he and Dan go out for a night on the town it ends in a totally unexpected fashion that leaves Dan flustered and determined to prevent Oliver from coming to Pennsylvania since his job—and marriage—could be threatened. Directed by Andrew Mogel and Jarrad Paul, The D Train might have been a genuinely subversive film, bit it loses its nerve during a flat-footed third act that has Dan going off the deep end when Oliver shows up, eventually tacking on a sweetness-and-light cop-out finale. Optional. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include deleted scenes (7 min.), and a gag reel (4 min.). Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are bonus digital and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a small extras package for an uneven comedy.] (F. Swietek)