The D Train
IFC Films | Release Date: May 8, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
14
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundMay 6, 2015
The film uses its male-on-male boundary-leaping to give the shopworn man-boy narrative a refresh. Read full review
83
IndieWireAnisha JhaveriFeb 9, 2015
There’s an effortless cool about Marsden's performance that's a perfect mismatch to Black's hysterics, and it brings a reassuring authenticity to some otherwise implausible plot twists. Read full review
83
HitfixGregory EllwoodJan 28, 2015
Mogel and Paul have a lot they are trying to accomplish with The D Train and at times it really is too much.... That being said, Marsden's career-best turn and a superb third act really turn things around. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMay 11, 2015
This is a dark comedy; the tone is such that it benefits from Jack Black emphasizing the less appealing aspects of his personality. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMay 7, 2015
If there’s a weakness to The D Train, it’s only in the filmmakers’ ultimate choice to stop the pain right before the finish, as if any good might really come to the characters they’ve created. Perhaps the assumption was that, by then, audiences will have suffered enough. But some misery you really can’t get enough of, especially when it’s happening to other people. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsMay 7, 2015
While Black is painfully effective as the dork who drops slangy kudos on his new BFF, Marsden is a revelation. Read full review
75
New York PostLou LumenickMay 7, 2015
This is the sort of film that will admittedly make some people uncomfortable, and that’s sort of the point. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversMay 7, 2015
Screenwriters Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel, in an auspicious directing debut, are attempting to tackle emotional areas that can't be glibly resolved. Sure, they trip up a few times. But it's exhilarating watching them aim high. Read full review
75
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallMay 7, 2015
Black's performance is the key to making The D-Train more than just another sophomoric bromance. The wild-eyed mania is still evident, but channeled through a filter of pity. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghMay 7, 2015
Despite the bumpy ride, the final destination reveals a weirdly daring comedy with the familiar, but still necessary, lesson that being popular isn't all it's made out to be in the movies. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla DargisMay 7, 2015
For long stretches, The D Train serves as a commodious vehicle for Mr. Black, who, like the best comic performers, never seems remotely concerned about going too big or risking the audience’s love. He’s a showboat if every so often, more of a steamroller, capable of flattening everyone and everything in his way. Yet he is also adept at conveying emotional and psychological fragility. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonMay 7, 2015
As pure comedy, The D Train is far more cringe-worthy than outright hilarious. But as a study in human nature, it’s beyond provocative — and maybe even instructive. Read full review
70
TheWrapJames RocchiMay 5, 2015
With superb, nuanced comedy performances from both White and Marsden, The D Train is a great, out-of-left-field star vehicle with tough laughs and real regret in it. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloMay 6, 2015
It’s a mess, but it’s a commendable mess. Bonus points for ambition and nerve. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenMay 6, 2015
Although The D Train doesn’t completely live up to its potential, the film earns lots of points for treading a distinctive path through a conventional setup. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleMay 7, 2015
Where the story falters, though, the performers admirably hold one's attention. Read full review
60
VarietyJustin ChangJan 28, 2015
Funny and sad isn’t the easiest combination to pull off, and while both descriptors fit The D Train well enough, this dark comedy might just as well be described as edgy and soft, audacious and coy, a largely enjoyable letdown. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn HornadayMay 7, 2015
A modestly funny, little bit dark, occasionally knowing, not entirely cynical comedy that, to the extent that it succeeds at all, does so thanks to James Marsden. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia PuigMay 7, 2015
The D Train is long on high-concept comedy, then runs out of steam and becomes a forced and far-fetched drama. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezMay 7, 2015
The clownish humor is imbued with a great, genuine pain. Unfortunately, the twist proves too much for the filmmakers to handle. The second half of The D Train collapses into a series of plot curlicues and narrative dead-ends. The picture loses its nerve and opts for a pat, wan resolution. Read full review
50
ObserverRex ReedMay 6, 2015
The D Train is so confusing it’s hard to track what anyone had in mind. Read full review
50
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlMay 5, 2015
The D Train has one great idea, a couple strong jokes, and a void at its center — a man who is only believable when he briefly becomes specific. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreMay 5, 2015
Every F-bomb, every sex gag or sexual comment, feels like an overreach and Dan just another Black character hoping the cool kids shine a little light his way. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyJan 28, 2015
The dark and sometimes funny The D Train is a feel-bad comedy, in that one feels bad for what happens to every character in the film and bad for sometimes being taken to places that feel more implausible than just transgressive. Read full review
42
The PlaylistZach HollwedelMay 16, 2015
The D Train goes off the rails (weak, unfinished, poorly constructed rails), and wrecks somewhere between mediocre and unfortunately disappointing. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottMay 8, 2015
A well-intended but scattered dramatic comedy. Read full review
40
The DissolveKeith PhippsMay 6, 2015
The D Train hangs some inspired ideas and winning comic moments on material that’s not strong enough to support them. Read full review
40
Time OutDavid EhrlichMay 5, 2015
The D Train ultimately generates so few laughs from its thin “be yourself” message that a commendable refusal to gawk at the gay stuff is all that keeps it on track. Read full review
40
The GuardianJordan HoffmanJan 28, 2015
Think about that one insufferable guy you knew in school who comments on everything you put on Facebook. Now try and imagine spending an entire movie’s run time with him. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyMay 8, 2015
The movie goes for grin-and-cringe-inducing, and instead achieves “excruciating.” Read full review
25
Portland OregonianMarc MohanMay 7, 2015
Making a movie with a sad-sack protagonist this hard to root for is like laying track for the main line express to nowhere. Watching it is like taking a ride so bumpy, with scenery so boring, that you end up hoping for a derailment. Either way, buying a ticket for The D Train is something to regret. Read full review
25
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMay 7, 2015
Nothing about The D Train feels the least bit authentic, and worse, little about it is funny. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsKatherine PushkarMay 13, 2015
In this dramatically disappointing comedy, Dan (Jack Black) is a loser. And not a lovable one, either. Read full review
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