The self-proclaimed chairman of the committee organizing a 20-year high-school reunion, Dan Landsman (Jack Black) is a portly and reserved family man whose outward projection of contentment disguises vast and profound self-doubt. He dreams he will be the reunion's hero if he can ensure the presence of Oliver Lawless (James Marsden), a schoolyard golden god who moved west years ago and recently featured in a major television spot for suntan lotion. Dan travels to L.A. to reunite with and entice Oliver, and Oliver, clearly not as significant a force in the industry as Dan believes, is lifted by the presence of a small-town transplant who puts him on an absurd pedestal. Their boisterous, lads-will-be-lads revelry leads to the scene for which The D Train will be remembered: an inebriated sexual encounter shared by the male stars. Many modern mainstream comedies flirt with and/or lampoon homoerotic tension (see: 21 Jump Street and its sequel), but this one dives in and then observes the at times amusing, at times uncomfortable aftermath. It is a bold, mischievous, and unexpected move in a film hamstrung to a certain degree by tonal confusion and stale genre contrivances—Dan lies and lies and lies and then says he never meant for his scheme to go "this far" (Roger Ebert's sarcastic theory of the Idiot Plot springs to mind)—but buoyed by dynamic turns by the expertly mismatched leads. Both project authentic masculine vulnerability and exhibit genuine empathy for their characters' pitiful and delusional, yet also very much human plights. We root for them to find a productive path in life, and because the film tends toward the predictable and the safe, we figure they will in a slightly heavy-handed and saccharine way.

B-

I'll give The D Train credit for taking risks, but it really falls flat overall. Dark comedies that make you squirm and feel uncomfortable certainly have their place, but this one was just kind of icky. The characters simply aren't interesting and slogging through a film with them is a chore, despite decent work from Jack Black and James Marsden. C-