Dan Landsman is the self-proclaimed chairman of his Pittsburgh high school's alumni committee. While planning the twenty-year reunion he has the idea of convincing Oliver Lawless, the most popular guy in his graduating class to return, thinking that this will make people want to attend.
On February 10, 2014, it was announced that Jack Black and James Marsden would star in a comedy film, directing debut of Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel, which Black's Electric Dynamite produced with Mike White's RipCord Productions and Ben Latham-Jones and Barnaby Thompson of Ealing Studios.
Filming
According to a casting call, the shooting was set to begin on March 17, 2014, in Metairie, Louisiana. Later on March 19, Black was spotted during the filming of The D Train in New Orleans. Due to Black's schedule, the film was shot in just 21 days.
Music
In October 2014, Andrew Dost was hired to compose the music for the film. A Pittsburgh sports radio segment playing when Dan arrives at a sports bar includes an audio cameo by John-Paul "JP" Flaim, Eric "EB" Bickel, Johnny "Cakes" Auville and Jason "Lurch" Bishop - the titular hosts of The Sports Junkies in Washington - who portray Pittsburgh sports talk radio hosts. The Junkies also released audio of them reading their lines in studio.
Release
The D Train was released theatrically in the United States on May 8, 2015, by IFC Films.
Box office
As of November 10, 2015, the film has grossed $771,317. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $447,524 from 1,009 theaters, which is the 15th worst opening for a wide release film of all-time. In its second weekend, the film was pulled from 847 screens, and its weekend-to-weekend gross fell 96.5%, as it only earned $15,714.
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a rating of 54% based on 132 reviews, with an average rating of 5.73/10. The site's consensus reads, "The D Train offers Jack Black a too-rare opportunity to showcase his range, but its story and characters are too sloppily conceived to hold together as a film." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 55 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". The New York Post described the film as "cute, breezy fun".
