Gone Baby Gone Reviews

• One of the Year's Best Films: Oscar Ignored!

  
  By A328S9RN3U5M68 on 2008-02-13
  Ben Affleck has written (with Aaron Stockard) a superb screenplay adaptation of Dennis Lahane's novel GONE BABY GONE and has proceeded to direct this tough tale with an ensemble cast of both well-known actors and unknown actors and walk-ons from the streets of the Boston area where they grisly story takes place. The result is a film so well tuned and realistic with a perfect sense of pacing and character development that it becomes a remarkable calling card for Ben Affleck's career as a director. That it is going unnoticed (with the exception of Amy Ryan's nomination for Best Supporting Actress) by the Oscars is a grave oversight !
  
  The time is contemporary Dorchester, Massachusetts and Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and his girlfriend/partner Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan), become aware of a missing child Amanda (Madeline O'Brien) in their own neighborhood. The child's aunt Bea (Amy Madigan) and uncle Lionel (Titus Welliver), unable to cope with Amanda's drugged out mother Helene (Amy Ryan), knock on Patrick and Angie's door, pleading with them to help find Amanda: Patrick and Angie are private detectives who just happen to be an integral part of the neighborhood. Reluctant at first to become involved in the now 3-day police hunt for the child, a hunt headed by the respected Captain Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman) who his lost his own daughter in similar circumstances and detectives Remy Bressant (Ed Harris) and Nick Poole (John Ashton) and who as a triad feel they are competent to handle the case without the 'immature experience' of the young couple. But Patrick and Angie do become involved, uncover leads within the neighborhood that lead to the clues behind the missing child incident and in doing so, unravel a lot of corruption within the police force, and also discover differences between themselves that threaten their otherwise close relationship. To say more would remove the incredible tension this story maintains all the way to the fadeout credits.
  
  The cast is uniformly excellent, from the smallest roles to the most major ones. It is difficult to single out any performer for praise as this is truly an ensemble piece. The flavor of the film is honest, unflinching, and refuses to ignore the grotesque incidents that must be shown for the movie to maintain its impact. Writer Dennis Lahane ('Mystic River', 'Shutter Island') is a master of detailing the spectrum of responses that ugly matters induce: even the most noble of intentions have their shadowy side. Affleck finds all of this in this excellent film, a film so strong that it easily bears repeated viewings. Highly recommended...but not for the squeamish. Grady Harp, February 08
  
  

• A Conventional Police Procedural Turns Into One Of the Year's Biggest Surprises--A Tough And Uncompromising Treat

  
  By A27H9DOUGY9FOS on 2008-01-02
  I'm going to be honest, I really wasn't overly exited to see "Gone Baby Gone." From the previews, it looked like a competent--if familiar--genre picture. I was galvanized, finally, to see the film based on Amy Ryan's practical sweep of the award season's Best Supporting Actress Prizes. The Affleck brothers, Ben as Director and Casey as Star, did nothing to alleviate my limited expectations. But something quite unexpected happened--my opinion completely changed as I was caught up in the twists of this genuinely good sleeper. Ben Affleck has generated a brisk, tough and uncompromising film and Casey Affleck has turned himself into a bona fide leading man! And although not a flawless film, I ended up loving "Gone Baby Gone."
  
  When a child goes missing, the community of Dorchester gets caught in a media frenzy. With Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris as officials in charge of the investigation, Casey Affleck (as a local detective) is brought in by the family as additional help. Having been raised in the area, it is felt that these contacts may give him better access to and communication with the tightlipped Boston neighborhood. Immediately, the story starts to unravel and the sympathetic mother (Amy Ryan) turns out to be not so sympathetic. The route the film follows takes us to some familiar territory but also to unchartered waters. The film dares to raise moral and ethical questions and presents a terrific and thoroughly uncompromising ending! The film's final moments put this head and shoulders above traditional Hollywood product. And I give Ben Affleck full credit for not bending to a more stereotypical conclusion.
  
  "Gone Baby Gone" is actually the fourth in a series of novels by crime writer Dennis Lehane featuring private detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. It is, however, the first to be treated to a big screen adaptation. Those familiar with the novels know that the Kenzie/Gennaro dynamic provides much emotion and conflict. Their relationship is almost as important as any case that they work. Fans of this aspect of Lehane's novels, therefore, might be a bit disappointed. In making this stand-alone film, Gennaro is largely marginalized and the impact of what happens to them as a couple isn't as significant to the story as it is in the book. That said, film and novels are two different mediums and "Gone Baby Gone" as a film still works exceedingly well in its own right.
  
  Casey Affleck is not the conventional actor one would picture for this role. Small in stature, relaxed in delivery--his offbeat presence actually makes "Gone Baby Gone" even more intriguing. As he is not a predictable "leading man," you're never quite sure what he's going to do. I found this lack of expectation to be quite invigorating and led me to accept and appreciate the twists of the film to a greater degree. With "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," this was Casey's year to redefine himself. Freeman, Harris, Ryan, Amy Madigan, and Michelle Monaghan (as Gennaro) all give impassioned performances. With a tight script and solid direction, "Gone Baby Gone" is a surprisingly tough film--and I mean that in all the best ways. Highly recommended. KGHarris, 01/08.
  
  

• How long am I going to be talking about this one....

  
  By A3AVJCB1ZD6ZY5 on 2007-10-29
  When a young Boston girl, Amanda McCready, is kidnapped, PI's Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) are called in by the child's aunt to investigate sources in the neighborhood that won't talk to the police.
  
  They're reluctant to take the case. Gennaro doesn't think it will end well--as Kenzie comments in the opening narrative, "we handle cases for people who live on the edge--and fall through the cracks."
  
  As they dig into the case, they realize Helene McCready, Amanda's mom, isn't precisely Mother of the Year material. Amanda is considered the mascot at Helene's favorite bar--but she only goes in there in the daytime because it's far too violent after dark. Helene is a drug user and occasionally acts as a mule for one of the local dealers. Little Amanda was probably stolen because Helene and her no-account boyfriend ripped off the local drug dealer.
  
  Enter Detective Remy Bressant (Ed Harris) and his partner, Nick Poole (John Ashton). They're assigned to help Kenzie and Gennaro by Captain Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman). When Bressant learns of the drug deal gone bad, he and Kenzie team up to set things right believing that if they paid back the drug dealer that he'd return little Amanda to her family.
  
  The switch goes awry and Kenzie and Gennaro realize they've been had. Now they stand on opposite sides of a moral issue and the question posed to them threatens their future together and their individual peace of mind.
  
  Ben Affleck did an amazing job directing this thriller-morality play by Dennis Lehane. For the most part, he was spot on with his timing. Standouts were younger brother Casey as Kenzie and of course Ed Harris as Bressart (in a reprise of his true believer type role in "The Rock") and Morgan Freeman as Doyle. I genuinely believe at least two of the three of these actors should be nominated for an Academy Award for their performances.
  
  "Gone" was a hard film to watch and it's one that will have you debating the merits of the decision with your family and friends for days to come. That's the true mark of a really good film--how well it stays with you. This one's a must for collectors of strong mysteries.
  
  
  
  
  

• Forces the viewer to confront the realities of moral and ethical questions - which side are you on?

  
  By A1ER5AYS3FQ9O3 on 2008-02-25
  This isn't an easy film to watch but it is one of the year's stunners and I am shocked that it didn't get more attention when it came to the Oscar nominations. While I loved it for many reasons, not the least of which was a breakout performance by Casey Affleck, I'd have to say one of the most powerful aspects of this movie may be exactly the thing that turns so many viewers off- it takes a long, hard look at the moral complexities of life and the difficulty in doing the "right" thing and making the best choice, especially when it comes to children and their rights.
  
  Some people think that Casey Affleck, playing a young private investigator, comes across as rigidly moral and ethical, especially towards the end of the film. I think differently. All though the film, you can see him struggling with his anger, which threatens to overwhelm him (and does, at points) and his conscience as well as his religious values. More than once, he brings up what his priest would say about certain situations. Some things don't "rest easy" with him. And yet he has trouble figuring out why and how best to address his ambivalence. He can't seem to fathom the deepest ramifications of his decisions, to see clearly the potential for harm even when one is trying to do good.
  
  The movie revolves around the kidnapping of a child, her drug-addicted and inattentive mother and some private investigators who work with the police to try and find the child.
  
  Affleck's on-screen partner and lover, played by Angela Monaghan, almost steals the show and I think she was an important counterpart to Affleck's role, even though he is clearly meant to be the lead actor.
  
  Where he is often rigid in his opinions, she relates to people on a gut level and senses what is truly right and what could lead to more serious consequences. I found her compassion, heart and way of relating to people to be very compelling and moving.
  
  There is a key part of the movie where she doesn't hesitate to risk her life, leaving the men around her stunned at her nerve - and leaving me awed as well.
  
  The message I got? When one's beliefs are truly integrated with one's heart, then there is no hesitation during even life-threatening moments. Monaghan was willing to put her life on the line to try and save a child. At the end of the film, I believe she still felt that way and had come to a very different conclusion about how to do that than her partner. Watch it and see what you think - and why the lead characters made the choices they did.
  
  There are some parts of the film that may confuse and baffle viewers so I'll warn you right now about those:
  
  1. THe language and plot. Graphic, often bloody, full of every curse word you could imagine. Not one for the kids to watch. The dirty and seamier side of life is shown, in all its ugliness. People in this one are hard and some are permanently ungrounded.
  
  2. The mumbling and often inarticulate accents of the characters. This was not a distraction for me but it was for some of our friends. Those with even minor hearing issues may have a problem.
  
  3. The confusing plot line. It was NOT confusing for me to follow but I did watch the film three times. I'd also read the book. There are a lot of twists and turns in this film. Viewers have to stay alert and need to care about hanging in there. The film can drag in some parts.
  
  Even with all the potential pitfalls for viewers, I highly recommend Gone, Baby, Gone. It pushes viewers to think about what they'd do in a difficult situation. It raises questions and inspires debate. Finally, it reveals what brings couples together and the types of issues that can separate them irrevocably, based on one decision. The decision, of course, is not a minor one.
  
  
  
  

• Ben Affleck SHOULD quit his day job...and direct!

  
  By A2R1HAXRNU0QX7 on 2008-01-08
  This is a confident and assured directing-debut for Ben Affleck. He has proven to be a good screenwriter (he co-wrote this one, as well as the Oscar-winning script to GOOD WILL HUNTING), but has been prett spotty as an actor. Sometimes his choices were poor and sometimes his performances too. He is obviously very intelligent and capable...but that doesn't always come through in his performances.
  
  With GONE BABY GONE, filmed in Affleck's beloved and familiar Boston...he has established himself as an outstanding director. There aren't any fancy tricks or special-effects here. Just an understanding of how to set mood and how to give good actors space to operate.
  
  The movie (based on the novel by Dennis Lenhane, who also wrote MYSTIC RIVER) tells the story of two low-rent private eyes (Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan) who are hired by grieving relatives to help the police in their search for a 4 year old missing girl. The belief is that people who won't talk to the police will talk to them. This proves to be an astute assumption, as the two investigators (who are also a loving couple) quickly make headway.
  
  Regulations apparently compel the police to cooperate, so two veteran detectives (Ed Harris and John Ralston) assist the couple in their work...and vice versa. I liked the fact that there was tension between the two groups (which we certainly come to expect when we see similar scenarios in movies) but it fairly rapidly is lightened when it becomes clear that the two private eyes are actually making progress and the two cops are actually willing to act on this information and to take some risks themselves.
  
  I'm going to leave the plot there...suffice it to say that no one is quite who they appear to be. It is an intersting and surprise-packed story on the surface...and that's almost good enough...just watching the case unfold and the twists get revealed. But what earns this film an extra star is the moral and ethical tale just beneath the surface. These characters grapple with moral choices, and the movie shows over and over that our consciences and religious beliefs may be tightly held and admirably adhered to...but they can nonetheless get us into serious trouble. As viewers, we understand fairly clearly what we think everyone OUGHT to do...but we also feel the pain of internal conflict when they don't. Because we understand their internal battles. And we also feel for them when they live with the consequences of their prideful stubborness. Doing the right thing isn't cut and dried in this film at all.
  
  Pretty much everyone in the film does great work. Special mention should go to Casey Affleck, an actor that I've pretty much paid no attention to. Well, he's having a great year (with this film and THE ASSASINATION OF JESSE JAMES...) and he's an interesting performer. Unconventional looking and seemingly a little slow and sleepy-eyed...his character bursts forth with shocking actions and bravery. He uses bluster to get out of sticky situations...but you can also easily tell that he's probably quivering in his boots at the same time.
  
  The film isn't perfect. Michelle Monaghan's character is both underwritten and underplayed. I think this movie stretched her skills just past her breaking point. She isn't awful...but I was distracted by her lack of convincing reactions in many scenes. And a couple of brief flashback scenes go by SO quickly, and they're so important, that I think I may have missed a couple of minor points of plot developments.
  
  Quibbles aside...this is a stirring, adult, thought-provoking, well-acted, well-written and SURPRISE, well-directed thriller. I HIGHLY recommend it.
  
  
• CRY BABY CRY
  By ANIMV3SPDD8SH on 2007-10-21
  Less a detective noir thriller, as reviews and promos have led me to believe, and more of a melodramatic Boston crime saga, like author Dennis Lehane's "Mystic River", with an unlikely 'surprising' conclusion crowning an otherwise dark involved drama concerning the disappearance of a four-year old Boston girl.
  
  The girl's aunt and uncle, frustrated by the police's lack of success hire a street level private investigating team, (Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan), who quickly unravel a connection with the girl's disappearance and a drug king's stolen booty.
  
  Casey Affleck, directed by brother Ben, is a striking and unassuming leading player, a cross between a short John Cusack, and an adult Beaver Cleaver, and his common man characterization, all searching eyes and wiry reflexes, as he reveals a genuine familiarity with seedy Boston neighborhoods, (in real life he would have been shot a couple hundred times), is really the only redeeming factor I could find in the film. He deftly pulls off a righteousness that would seem impossible in a tough Boston private eye. Michelle Monaghan, as his partner in bed and in business, is a badly drawn character, who apparently represents only femininity, and does little else but worry the entire film. She's a dull girl Friday who would have been knocked out of the way by Miss Marple on her search for a clue.
  
  Given it's theme and one scene of a brutally molested child, the film's lesser roller coaster ride of standard detective fare is a trifle off-beat and insignificant. Twists and turns are piled as high as a pastrami on rye, and the conclusion is simply melodramatic trite, like a lesser Agatha Christie, and seems and excuse for Affleck to deliver his fine little speech on truth and dignity.
  
  If you loved Clint Eastwood's "Mystic River", you'll also love Ben Affleck's "Gone Baby Gone". If you like your crime fiction with a little less emotional bloat, and your idea of gritty realism doesn't include tortured murdered children, I suggest another round of "The Maltese Falcon".
  
  
  
  
  
  
• A brilliant piece of work
  By AENFJCMCOGM8X on 2007-12-18
  Ben Affleck's adaptation of Dennis Lehane's book, Gone Baby Gone, is one of the best movies I have seen in years.
  
  The basic story centers around two local detectives who reside in Dorchester. They are asked to assist the police in their investigation of a missing girl, who was abducted while her alcoholic/drug addict mother was at her friend's place. Reluctantly, they agree to take on the case.
  
  Having read the book, the only complaint I would have is how they portayed Angela Gennaro, played by Michelle Monaghan. In the book, her character has survived a physically abusive marriage and numerous brushes with death. In this film, she is almost like a hood ornament to Casey Affleck's Patrick Kenzie. But the chemistry between the two actors can almost make you forget about that.
  
  The story moves at breakneck pace and keeps you in suspense until the very end. Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris are excellent as two police officers who are deeply involved in the case....and even deeper in secrets. But the true standout is Golden Globe nominee, Amy Ryan, who plays the missing girl's mother. You don't like her from the start, even though you feel tempted to feel some sympathy because of her situation. Ryan plays this crass, ambivalent single parent with such raw power, you truly despise this woman.
  
  The movie reflects on many famiilar themes; tight knit people who will "die with their secrets", things not appearing to be what they seem, the moral dilemma of doing what is right and what is "right", etc. And by the end, you find yourself just as torn as Kenzie about which "right" will prevail.
  
  You should probably read Deniis Lehane's prequels to this film such as "A Drink Before the War", "Darkness, Take My Hand", and "Sacred" before watching this film. It will make you appreciate it even more.
  
  A great film. A truly "do not miss" film.
  
  
  
• True grit
  By A37PV5GMP2ILJC on 2008-02-09
  This movie pulls no punches in revealing the dark sides of its characters, and the result is a gritty, compelling crime drama, with a surprise around every corner.
  
  Casey Affleck (brother of Ben a.k.a. the Director of the movie, a.k.a. half of Bennifer 2) plays Patrick Kenzie, a low budget private investigator who specializes in finding missing people. His partner is his live-in girlfriend Angie, and the two are hired by the aunt of a missing girl to supplement the efforts of the police force in locating her.
  
  Kenzie soon meets Capt. Doyle (Morgan Freeman) and winds up working with officers Remy and Nick (Ed Harris and John Ashton). During the investigation, Kenzie learns that the girl's mother Helene (convincingly played by Amy Ryan) is no angel, and that she and her boyfriend may have inadvertently started a chain reaction leading to the abduction of her daughter by their greedy and stupid actions.
  
  You'll think that the movie is over at least twice before it actually ends, and it keeps the viewer on edge just knowing that there's even more stuff about to happen. This movie deals with unpleasant topics such as kidnapping, drug abuse, pedophilia, child abuse and more, but Ben Affleck handles these unappealing subjects with such panache and realism that you'll have a bitter taste in your mouth for a long time after watching this movie.
  
  Words of Wisdom (WOW):
  
  
  1. Don't ever try to steal from your neighborhood drug dealer
  2. If your boyfriend's name is Skinny Ray, chances are you're not heading for a stable long term relationship
  3. Trust nobody
  4. What feels right may not always be right
  5. The right thing can be the hardest thing to do
  6. Make sure you know where your children are
  7. Although it may be wise to skip movies starring Ben Affleck, you shouldn't miss the ones directed by said Ben Affleck
  
  
  
  
  Amanda Richards, February 9, 2008
  
  
  
• Mixploitation
  By A2FUOXFJ74B32M on 2008-03-05
  I was intitially hesitant to watch yet another film about the Irish of South Boston, but my curiousity got the better of me. Well, I should have listened to my gut. These Southie movies are becoming a genre of their own, and as a person of Irish descent, I can say most of them are none too flattering. 80% of the characters seem to be either alcoholics/addicts, criminals, pedophiles, or some other pitiful degenerate. GBG is certainly no different, in fact it was one of the worst that I have seen in this regard. Is Boston really like this? I don't know, but I'm sure the city of Boston's tourism department is having fits after watching this film. As an Irishman, I was actually embarassed, and at times disgusted, watching this film and I think I now know how the Italians and Blacks must feel. Oh, I almost forgot about the actual plot and the acting. Casey Affleck is a private detective hired to find a missing two year old girl. The girl's mother qualifies for worst mother of the year award, and Affleck has to scour the underbelly of South Boston in his search for the girl. I actually like Casey Affleck as an actor, I thought he should have won the Oscar for his portrayal of Bob Ford in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford but neither he, nor Ed Harris or Morgan Freeman is enough to save this unholy mess. There is an interesting plot twist toward the end but I found it to be totally unbelievable. It is obvious from some of the glowing reviews that the film has found an audience, but if you ask me, it is just pretentious melodrama. 2.5 stars.
  
  
  
• Go Baby Leave....
  By A1G1PX4U6RSZEA on 2008-02-13
  The only fact I knew prior to renting this movie was Ben Affleck directed it, and his brother Casey Affleck was the main character. With that said I'm obviously ambivalent toward Ben Affleck for all the reasons everyone under the sun knows so I will spare the reader my soliloquy. Casey Affleck on the other hand I've seen in a few indie flicks that didn't woo me to say the least. Nonetheless I sat back without any inkling or hint of what the premise of this movie consisted of and let the movie speak for itself.
  
  First and foremost I had no empathy, sympathy, or encouragement to really enjoy/support any character whatsoever, especially Angie Monaghan's character (Gennaro). Why may you ask? A good movie just like a really good novel gives the movie-goer or reader an opportunity to know/understand a character, and once that is established it ultimately effects the movie-goers emotions, and I saw that didn't happen with this movie only up until the last 10 minutes I was finally sold on Kenzie's character as well as Helene's character. Aside from the characters personalities, the acting particularly from Casey Affleck was absolute rubbish. I give him no props for tackling a role that in essence didn't stand-out or evoke a uniqueness unfounded in his acting style. Lets face it the Affleck's are from Boston, therefore Casey more or less was acting as if he wasn't acting. Remember Courtney Love from "The People Vs Larry Flynt" as she was portrayed as a crackwhore? Hmm....didn't take a great deal of acting to pull that role off now did it Courtney? I may be going overboard on his acting, but it just didn't help the movie. I was anticipating more emotion, more emphasis, more bravado, yet all we got was a stuttering badass Bostonian. How typical.
  
  The movie tried too hard to be unpredictable, and with that it left several open questions marks hurriedly pieced together in the little remaining time the film had left. As an audience member I was forced to put on my CSI thinking caps to piece it together in order to see eye to eye with the characters as more unpredictability and CSI detective work was being unfolded. I feel the events that took place throughout the entire movie to hide/protect Amanda was simply over the top and somewhat irrelevant. Wouldn't Amanda question the whereabouts of her mother after being wist away to a country-side home living under the roof with a black man (Capt. Jack Doyle) and a white woman (Francine Doyle)? I found it very selfish and hypocritical for Capt. Doyle to take away a child from it's mother, but is that what we as an audience need to mull over and question as a moral dilemma? In my opinion the movie lacked or missed out on something to create it as a moral dilemma. I feel Kenzie shooting the pedophile deemed more merit as a moral dilemma versus the decision-making over where Amanda would benefit greatly in maturing and living life to the fullest. I felt the ending was self-evident and that is why we should dismiss the question of morality and ethics, and that is why I have a hard time imagining people labeling this movie as controversial, surprising, and open to discussion. Fast Forward to the very end where Kenzie is in Helene's house standing in the hallway chatting while Helene is getting ready for a date. Helene takes off leaving Amanda all alone sitting on the couch watching television under the supervision of Kenzie. Was the director (yes, Ben Affleck) trying to subliminally evoke his personal decision-making that would impact Amanda? If that were the case than I give him credit for making a good point, and unfortunately that was the only point that fully impacted me as a viewer.
  
  
• Nature versus nurture
  By A2NH6XSE79X3VY on 2008-03-20
  This could've been a half hour after school special about how children are likely only a product of their environment. Instead, we are treated to a two hour quotidian and caustic performance by Bennifer's widdle brother and his barely perceptible girlfriend. Bennifer's brother opens with a narration which sets the pungent tone for the rest of this film. Why must everything associated with Bennifer and his frequent companion, Matt Damon, be associated with Boston? Ok Ben, we get it....you're from New England now can you go away? If I had to look at one more obese drunken soak wearing a Red Sox cap, I was going to emit my supper.
  
  The opening narration by Junior Bennifer is so banal and ultimately pointless. I'm convinced it's sole purpose was to let the viewer know how grating yet forgettable this picture would be. I won't go into every detail that I found implausible, but just to list a few: Junior Bennifer somehow knows every con in the city, yet is apparently hated by most of them. Junior Bennifer is approximately 5'6 145 lbs, yet he mouths off to at least five hardened thugs and suffers nary the slightest scratch.
  
  The seasoned detectives allow Junior Bennifer behind the curtain and supply him with investigative information despite the fact that they're in on the misgivings. My brain can only handle thinking about this slop for so long so I'll wrap up with one final though. The entire bar scene with the masked gun toting lunatic was useless, and simply served as a means to end with more gunshots and a dramatic slumped over declaration.
  
  In closing, Bennifer and family think they created some controversial theme here. They think they're being artistic with the opening narration and the foul mouthed walking DYFS case mother. The truth is that they created a forgettable, oily, nonsensical picture that Morgan Freeman should have run screaming from.
  
  
• Gone Baby Gone
  By AKXV7RFLSMYVL on 2007-10-23
  Short Take: Eldest Affleck takes creative gamble with dicey directorial debut that does not pay off.
  
  In 1997, at age 25, Ben Affleck shared Oscar-winning writing credit with fellow actor Matt Damon on their original screenplay Good Will Hunting. Ten years hence Affleck returns with Gone Baby Gone (adapted from the novel by Mystic River author Dennis Lehane), co-scripted with newcomer Aaron Stockard. This time Affleck ups the creative ante by using the film to showcase his directorial debut. It's a daring effort but the resulting offering is an only passable mystery crime drama--with a cock-and-bull conclusion--intent on ironhanded audience manipulation.
  
  Romantically involved Boston, MA private detectives Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck, Ocean's Thirteen) and Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan, The Heartbreak Kid) are asked by the aunt and uncle of four-year-old Amanda McCready to augment the police investigation into the kidnapping of their niece. They believe that Kenzie and Gennaro can finesse cagey neighbors who don't ordinarily cooperate with police. A likable homegrown product with a baby face, Kenzie knows the downtrodden neighborhood well but neither he nor Gennaro has ever investigated a kidnapping case. They have the added disadvantage of plunging into the case three days after the kidnapping. With the clock ticking, the detectives must navigate Amanda's dingy, crime infested Boston neighborhood as Kenzie persists to keep his reluctant promise to Amanda's mother to find her missing daughter--everyone knows that as each minute passes the chances of finding Amanda alive diminish.
  
  What's troublesome about Gone Baby Gone is its feigned use of the audience's natural sympathy for children to elicit emotions about child abduction and abuse. The preposterous final act--which concedes the real motives for Amanda's kidnapping--offers up child abduction and abuse as red herrings that have no relevance to the storyline.
  
  Surely one of the film's most disappointing aspects is director Affleck's inability to induce a star-making performance from his younger brother. The pubescent-looking Casey Affleck doesn't command the camera, in spite of being surrounded by veteran actors like Ed Harris (as Detective Remy Bressant) and Morgan Freeman (Police Captain Jack Doyle).
  
  The singularly elevated acting performance is by Amy Ryan (TV's The Wire) as the missing Amanda's drugged out, criminally negligent, and profane mother Helene McCready. Ryan delivers an uncompromising performance of objectionable behavior, leaving you to marvel at the degree to which she dares you to maintain sorrow for Amanda's despairing mother.
  
  Rated R for violence, drug content and pervasive language
  
  El-Bo
  
  
• Hat's off to Alan Ladd Jr, Dan Rissner, and Sean Bailey for a big winner
  By A63U10XVV66X8 on 2008-04-15
  I first heard of this film project in November of 2005 when Dan Rissner, one of the co-producers, contacted me to ask for the manuscript of an unpublished baseball novel I had on the back burner. I found him open and down to earth, and while he wasn't able to pull things together, I became interested in his work.
  
  I've now seen the final product and I am impressed. It's not often I buy a DVD for my collection, but this time I did. All success storys begin with savvy casting, and here the producers made truly excellent choices: Casey Affleck might be a bit fuzzy cheeked, but he fit the iron-willed investigator perfectly, and the chemistry between him and his business partner/girlfriend Allie (Michelle Monaghan)felt genuine. Of course, with old pros Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman in supporting roles, the backup cast had to outdo itself and happily that's what they did. I was particularly taken with Amy Ryan as the undeserving and graceless mother of the kidnapped child. She was so convincing, I actually hoped she wouldn't end up getting her kid back.
  
  Gone Baby Gone is not a happy story. It depicts life in the city where everything is hard-edged, nothing is ever for sure and openness and honesty are usually the first casualties. Highly recommended.
  
  Art Tirrell is the author of the 2007 adventure novel The Secret Ever Keeps set on and under the waters of Lake Ontario.
  
  "Simply put...the best underwater scenes I've ever read." - reviewer MW
  
  
  
• Hail the White Knight!
  By A3NH7PYU4AD5GA on 2008-01-29
  If you are a masochist who likes depressing movies, this is the product for you.
  A young couple tries to run a detective agency in a not so high class part of Boston, and gets involved in a missing child case, which very soon and very fast outgrows their capabilities and experience. She has soft knees, while he tries to find his way through amazingly unclear constellations, which force him to take hasty moral decisions.
  The basic story is not mainly about corruption, as the Amazon text above claims, but about various shades of vigilantism and abuses of the judicial system for other ways of personal enrichment.
  Ben Affleck may have found his calling as a director; his Boston is nearly on par with Clint's in Mystic River, both based on Dennis Lehane novels. His brother is the right guy for the Parsivalesque hero. So is Ed Harris in his version of a cop, finally not in a silly part like in National Treasure.
  
  
• Solid, Gritty Detective Story Undermined Somewhat by Its Self-Righteousness.
  By A3UPYGJKZ0XTU4 on 2008-02-16
  "Gone Baby Gone" is a gritty modern detective story based on Dennis Lehane's novel. When a young girl disappears from her neglectful mother's Boston home, the girl's concerned aunt and uncle hire Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck), a private investigator, to augment the police's investigation. Police Captain Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman) heads a unit specializing in crimes against children. The detectives on the case, Remy Bressant (Ed Harris) and partner Nick, suspect a child molester of the kidnapping. But Patrick and his partner Angie (Michelle Monaghan) dig up information on the child's mother, Helene MacCready (Amy Ryan), that leads in a different direction.
  
  First-time director and Boston native Ben Affleck emphasizes authenticity and the culture of the working-class Dorchester neighborhood where the action unfolds. Realism and sense of place are where this film excels, including Amy Ryan's terrific portrayal of a common trashy mother too caught up in her own whims to care much about her daughter. My limited experience with Dennis Lehane's work has led me to associate the author with self-righteousness and plots that hinge on far-fetched behavior. "Gone Baby Gone" is no exception. It's preachy. Characters do ridiculous things that I don't really buy. Even so, there are points at which the film becomes a thoughtful meditation on what constitutes right and wrong. It's an entertaining, occasionally insightful thriller.
  
  The DVD (Miramax 2008): There are 6 extended or deleted scenes with optional commentary, 2 featurettes, and a feature commentary. "Going Home: Behind the Scenes with Ben Affleck" (7 min) interviews the director, cast, and producer Sean Bailey about Affleck's directing and the film's themes. In "Capturing Authenticity: Casting Gone Baby Gone" (9 min), Affleck and the cast talk about the characters and the importance of using locations and people from Dorchester. The feature commentary by director and co-screenwriter Ben Affleck and screenwriter Aaron Stockard provides scene-by-scene comments on adapting the book, sets, dialogue, characters, story, and shooting. Subtitles are available for the film in English SDH, French, and Spanish. Dubbing available in French, Spanish.
  
  
• They're cute when they're young.
  By A2QDD6OWIAEBED on 2008-03-08
  The movie begins with a sappy voice over from the male lead ( Ben Affleck's little brother Casey ), Describing the toughness of the people from his Boston neighborhood, with the same drippy sentiment that Tim Daily describes the life of islanders off the coast of Maine, in The Stephen King mini-series " The Storm of the Century". As the camera eventually settles in on the gathering of neighbors, cops, and press, we discover the root of the story, a four year old girl has been abducted. Out of the infinite number of possible directions this film could of gone on from here, the twisted path it eventually chose is not one I would of imagined or concidered. The first monkey wrench tossed into the gears is the introduction to the lead character and his live in girl friend, Private detective Patrick Kenzie ( Affleck ), and Angie Gennaro ( Michelle Monaghan ). For starters, Casey Affleck looks like William Peterson, and John Pankow from "To Live and Die in L.A." had a baby. Added to this, his voice sounds like he has a rather stuffy head cold. He does not strike me as leading male material. Then there is the way that his character is drawn out. He is so cock sure of himself, that he can verbally threaten and insult a Haitian drug lord in the drug lord's own home, and stair down the agitated Haitians locked and loaded 9MM without so much as blinking. I have heard that Boston folk can be a tough sort, but the unflinching way in which he handles these life and death situations, and the actual life and death situations themselves stuck as far too macho to be real.
  
  I can and will acknowledge that there is some rather fun and thrilling moments to be had in this film. For starters I thought that The Academy of Motion Pictures Sciences were dead right in nominating Amy Ryan for an Oscar for bad parent Helena McCready, but not letting her win. She had some rather racey dialog and solid scenes, and did outshine her costars in this film with her treatment of her collorful material, but I did not think it warrented actually winning the trophy. I also found the shootout between the hero and the elder crack head couple The Trett's and their live in pedophile friend Corwin Earle ( Matthew Maher ), to be pretty nail biting. Unfortunately, it is when this film passes this point that my interest gets put to an endurance test. It is as if someone took two seperate films and tried to stick them together in the middle, and quite frankly, I had plenty of problem with the premise of this film, which is what the second half is all about.
  
  " You need a licence to drive a car, you need a licence to catch a fish, but the will let any *bleeping bleepidy bleep* be a parent."
  
  Sorry to have to let the cat out of the bag and spoil the ending, but the whole premise of this film is faulty at best. We are suppose to buy the notion that just because someone is a lousy parent who neglects a really cute child, that it would inspire an uncle, and a group of high level police officers to cook up some elaborite scheme to abduct the child themselves. All so it could be raised by a member of their group who once lost a child, and thus would not take this poorly mothered cutey for granted. To make this scheme even more hair brained, they would attept to hide their envolvement in her abduction by trying to fake the childs death. In order to do so they would also get into a staged gun battle with The Haitian drug lord at night and in the woods, so that the staged witnesses would only sort of see what transpired. More preposterous still, is that they now have to have transcripts and other documents forged, a self firing of the lead abductor and new parent set up, and even go so far as to have a staged armed robbery. When you add in the fact that the press is all over this case, it makes the entire premise to the story completely asinine. Now, the obvious question is, what is Capt. Doyle ( Morgan Freeman ) going to do with this child? He can't enroll her in school. Hell, he can't even take her outside in public because of the off chance that the child would be recognized. So again I ask, What is Morgan Freeman going to do with this abducted child? I can only guess that he has to keep her locked in the basement of his house like the proud parent of a circus freak.
  
  Near the end of the film, we have the big show down speech between Casey Affleck and Morgan Freeman, but whatever meaning that was suppose to be involved in this wrap up is now completely lost on me, mainly because my mind is too logical to buy any of it. The film ends with cute little Amanda's mommy once again doing what a good crack-ho does and leaving her tyke for Casey Affleck to watch. He of course looks at little Amanda with the same longing and sadness that Morgan Freeman did signifying that not only does he now understand Morgan's inner pain, but he himself could be capable of abducting this child, just to give it a better life.
  
  Being that I am the age I am, and have become realistically dissipated by people and life events, I.E. Jaded, I found myself wanting to shout out at how blatantly stupid I found these child lovers to be. In what way would it possibly help this child to be abducted and kept in hiding for years until her appearance changed and the public forgot? That hardly seems like a vast improvement on her current life situation, and if caught, the consequences for the abductors seem hardly worth the risk. Secondly, sure little Amanda is cute now, but just wait a few years. She is probably destined to become a skank herself, with or without the abduction. Ultimately this is a film you should rent first to see if you like it enough to own, because if you are at all like me, you will be turning your copy in for trade or dropping it off at your local library.
  
  
• A Word of Warning . . .
  By A3BPHOO79UKA1K on 2008-03-29
  If you think "doing the right thing" is more important than the welfare of a precious, four-year-old little girl, you will probably love this movie. Aside from the fact that I had to turn on the subtitles because I couldn't understand half of what the Casey Affleck charactor was mumbling about, the movie was well-made and very well-acted. In this respect I would give it 4 stars. But I am giving it 1 star because of the way I felt after watching it. Most of my friends thought this was a great movie. I would even tend to agree. I just hated the ending.
  
  
• "It's meant to hurt. It's meant to shake everybody up."
  By AEQFYOI6YJ83Z on 2008-02-13
  That quote, from novelist Dennis Lehane and taken from one of the "making-of" featurettes available on the DVD, pretty much sums up the whole point of "Gone Baby Gone." I'll sum up the plot briefly: a child is kidnapped from the home of her crack-dealing single mother, and two private investigators are hired to find her. What begins as a complicated case turns tragic, heartbreaking, and a moral issue for the ages.
  
  First of all: Ben Affleck can direct. Sure, sure, he obviously takes his cues from the greats before him...but who doesn't? Affleck takes a great script (which he co-wrote, based upon a great novel) and makes a great movie. Boston becomes a central character; Affleck captures this by casting many true-life Boston citizens (as one "actor" states: "There's no actors in there") in many of the roles, giving the movie the lived-in feel that it requires. Let's face it: despite the caliber of acting, despite the amazing script, if the movie didn't have Boston, the movie wouldn't have anything.
  
  Let's go back to the acting, because that's what drew me in. Casey Affleck, Ben's little bro, is rapidly becoming one of my favorite actors (see him also in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford;" that movie, combined with this, will quickly erase any doubts about this man's talent). As his girlfriend/partner, Michelle Monaghan oozes charm and charisma as always. Amy Ryan, as the girl's mother, is a wonder to behold; she highly deserves her Best Supporting Actress nod (and if she wins, you won't hear any complaints from me). It's unfortunate that Ed Harris, who delivers one of his best performances, isn't nominated; as a hard-hitting detective who isn't afraid to bend the rules, he steals every scene he's in. Then there's Morgan Freeman; in the first half of the movie, his talent isn't readily evident (it's a bit hard to get past his traditional wise-man persona). When he shows up later in the film, though, the viewer is quickly reminded why Freeman is one of the best actors to ever grace the screen.
  
  Ultimately, as intimated in the title line of this review, "Gone Baby Gone" is a thinking-man's crime drama. It isn't meant to leave you feeling nice and comfortable; it's meant to leave you shaken, edgy, as if something wasn't right. What is "the right thing?" How do we know it when we see it? How do we know it when we do it? These are the questions you'll leave this movie with. If you're not comfortable questioning your own humanity, then I reccommend going to see some other flick; I hear Paris Hilton has a new one coming out. But if you don't mind feeling uncomfortable, if you don't mind watching a crime drama that is actually thought-provoking, then by all means watch this one. You'll get your money's worth and a whole lot more.
  
  
• Ridiculous
  By A3I804Y6PB1KS3 on 2008-03-11
  I saw this movie last night and during the first hour, I said to myself, "Wow, this is one of the best movie I've seen. How come the Oscars totally ignored this movie?" Sadly, the answer dawned on me during the last 20 minutes of this film. Spoilers now ahead...
  
  Apparently, the movie portrayed Boston as a city in some Third World country; no one in this movie has heard of Child Welfare Services. If the girl's mother is unfit, the uncle could have easily contacted welfare services to take the child away and then adopt her legallyor put her in a foster home.. Why is there a need to come up with a convuluted kidnapping scheme involving the police and drug dealers? I'm shaking my head as I type this; it is just that ridiculous of a plot.
  
  
  
  
• Quite good, until the end. No Spoilers
  By A3JLOIXFM75QNV on 2008-01-29
  I had heard a lot of good about this film so I decided to check it out. Well, I was truly into it and the mystery surrounding the characters that I had my hopes up for a (finally) great movie in 2007. Weeeellll, then the end happened and I think my jaw dropped because I was in such shock. And not because it was good, but because I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was just so wrong and odd and ridiculous that it actually made me hate the movie altogether. It truly was a great film until that point. I could not believe I had wasted my time. What a dissapointment.
  
  
• Gone Babies in a World Gone Bad.
  By A3D9VXSUDX8J36 on 2008-02-12
  Based on the novel Gone, Baby, Gone by Mystic River author Dennis Lehane, and directed by Ben Affleck, this gritty, neo-noir crime thriller tells the compelling story of two lovers and private investigators, Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan), and their hunt for an abducted four-year-old girl in the working class neighborhood of Dorchester, Boston. Although Kenzie and Gennaro have a certain knack for tracking down Boston deadbeats, Affleck portrays them as inexperienced innocents in a world gone bad. Morgan Freeman plays Captain Jack Doyle of the Crimes Against Children Unit, Ed Harris plays an emotionally-conflicted cop, Remy Bressant, and Amy Ryan plays the missing girl's foul-mouthed mother, Helene. Helene is into drugs. She and her dead boyfriend, "Skinny Ray," have stolen $130,000 from a local drug lord named "Cheese," and when Helene confesses that the money is hidden in Ray's yard, Kenzie and Angie arrange to trade the money for the missing child. When the exchange is botched, Kenzie and Angie are left to blame. Meanwhile, the anything-but predictable plot thickens with lots of twists and turns when a known pedophile is suspected in the abduction of a seven-year-old boy wearing a St. Christopher medal, an abduction which sheds new light on the four-year-old girl's previous disappearance.
  
  Gone Baby Gone offers excellent performances from the entire cast, and promising direction by Affleck, who clearly understands Boston, including its dark underbelly. Not surprisingly, this film appeared on many top ten lists of the best films of 2007, and Amy Ryan has been nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of an equally tragic and pathetic character. Gone Baby Gone is full of surprises, a thinking man's crime film, and a five-star film which I've rated with four stars only when measured against Clint Eastwood's Mystic River.
  
  
  G. Merritt
  
  
• "Sheep Among Wolves"
  By A3EE0H0NWQ9QVL on 2008-02-15
  `Gone Baby Gone' is as unsettling as it is intriguing. Behind the headlines of child abduction, the movie is disturbingly real with events that develop naturally. As complicated as life itself, the film captures a mystery of tangled proportions.
  
  Little four-year-old Amanda MacReady has been kidnapped from her Dorchester, MA home. We see private detective, Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) watching the latest breaking stories of her abduction on television with his girlfriend and co-partner, Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan). Soon afterward, Amanda's Aunt Bea (Amy Madigan) and Uncle Lionel (Titus Welliver) come to their apartment and ask to hire them. The young investigative couple is skittish at the prospect of taking on a private case while troops of police officers are on the assignment, and its nature isn't exactly like the ones they've tackled before.
  
  But take it they do and soon they meet some tough, but weary veterans, including Capt. Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman) and Det. Denny Bressant (Ed Harris). Jack Doyle has some pretty harsh words for the Private I. who's skeptical of another investigator and takes each new case personally. Included in his past is his own daughter who was kidnapped and found dead just yards away from his own residence. Det. Remy takes his work only slightly less to heart.
  
  Backing Patrick is Helene MacCready, who eventually trusts him more than the police to find her only daughter. This gives Patrick the advantage of finding some seedy characters in her own life. Quickly we find out she's a coke addict and has a network of connections that take them into a whole underworld of shady drug dealers and predators. Soon we're introduced to turf leader "Cheese" (Edi Gathegi) and her boyfriend, Leon (Mark Margolis). (Her family is logically upset with the situation and Helene's irresponsible behavior.) Seldom does the drama fail to surprise while managing to keep the plot lines accessible.
  
  Directed and co-written by Ben Affleck (whose co-writing for 'Good Will Hunting' won him an Oscar) the movie gets its footing quickly and keeps our interest with its labyrinth investigation and revealingly dark characters. Amy Ryan's worthy Oscar nomination is the high-water mark of acting amongst a fine cast, including similarly nominated Casey Affleck (albeit for his more nervous and nuanced performance in 'The Assassination of Jesse James...') who keep us on our toes along with the Brothers Affleck. Engaging and thought-provoking in its ramifications without trying to exploit, `Gone, Baby, Gone' achieves quite a balancing act.
  
  
• Makes Bostonians sound like morons!
  By A3PCMDQOUUNKQM on 2008-03-06
  I watched a half hour and was totally appalled. The accents were so ridiculous and over the top. And the swearing. The mother was disgusting and I was just so turned off by her. Given yes, Southie can be a bit like how the movie was..but not THAT bad. I live 20 min from Boston and I say "Car", "Garage" "Harvard"...all pronouncing the R's. I thought Mystic River was an excellent movie and book. SO much better than this attempt at a Dennis Lehane novel turned movie. I'd Like to see them do a movie version of Shutter Island.
  
  
• Great Adaptation of Fantastic Book
  By A1U360OMVQRPUB on 2008-03-11
  I've been a fan of Dennis Lehane's private eye novels about Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro for years. I keep wishing Lehane would write another book about them. Instead, he's written a couple of stand-alone books that have become a movie (MYSTIC RIVER) and one that will become a movie (SHUTTER ISLAND).
  
  GONE, BABY, GONE stands out not only as the first Kenzie/Gennaro book to become a film, but is also Ben Affleck's first turn as a director. His brother Casey (THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD) stars as Patrick Kenzie.
  
  Both the Afflecks grew up in Boston, and the choice to use Lehane's background for the series, Dorchester, was a no-brainer. Ben Affleck, when drawn to the project, stated that he wanted to make that microcosm of Boston come to life on the screen, and he used several people from the neighborhood in roles. In my opinion, he succeeds admirably. The background has a unique feel and rhythm to it that he couldn't have gotten while shooting somewhere else.
  
  Another thing that really rings too is the language. The dialogue is coarse and explosive, the way it tends to be in crowded metropolitan areas. And no matter where you put them, areas of cities that are in disrepair always stand out and offer their own views of the world. It doesn't matter if it's a small town or a large town, people tend to be desperate, trapped, and unhappy while living there. Since they're not strong enough, mobile enough, or brave enough to take on people outside their neighborhood, the bad ones tend to prey on people inside the local environment.
  
  I liked the motivation for Patrick and Angie to get involved, the fact that Patrick knew the mother whose child was kidnapped. They'd gone to high school together, and no one gets out of high school without a history and usually scars to show for it. Angie is reluctant to get involved with the case because she doesn't want to find a dead kid, which is how things like this normally work out.
  
  If you've only watched the movie, you should really read the book as well. Patrick and Angie's relationship means a lot to the book series, and in particular to this novel. The movie can't pull in all the history or the emotional angst that is in the pages of the novel. There's just not enough room.
  
  Patrick's investigation immediately puts him in harm's way of the police and the bad guys - which is exactly how a private eye story should operate. The PI is always the man or woman outside of the world that needs to be investigated. In this case, Patrick belongs to that world but he's stepped outside certain aspects of it.
  
  Although I knew the story and what was going to happen, it was great seeing Ben Affleck's vision of it and Casey Affleck's portrayal of Patrick. The city seems almost to close in on the viewer, especially during the scenes where Bubba leads Patrick to the house where the kidnapped boy is being held by drug addicts and a child molester.
  
  Ed Harris turns in a fantastic performance as Remy Bressard. I love watching Harris work anyway, but seeing him in this role was a pleasure. Morgan Freeman, solid as ever, wasn't given too much to do, but he always shines. Michelle Monaghan plays Angie Gennaro, but the focus is so much on Patrick that she almost gets eclipsed in everything. She's so strong, though, that she seizes moments and makes them her own.
  
  I really enjoyed this film. I liked the look and the pacing, though some people may find it a little slow in places. I was just glad to see this world come to life, and I think Ben Affleck did a marvelous job of doing that. Hopefully other novels in the series will be developed as well.
  
  The plot twists and turns, but by the time everything gets sorted, there are hard choices to be made. The great thing is that the viewer is forced to make those choices as well. The subject matter is powerful and moving.
  
  
  
• Warmed Up
  By A4JP4T1F95D0A on 2008-03-27
  Taking place in modern day Dorchester Mass. Gone Baby Gone is a really interesting story. Just when you think you have things figured out it throws a new curve. At first the strong accents and white trashiness of the people turned me off, but as the story began to unfold I was drawn in. Ben Affleck seems to be on his way as a fine director. I also thought Casey did a good job as a leading man. In the scenes with acting giants like Harris and Freeman, he more than held his own. Gone Baby Gone is a character piece set around the disappearance of a little girl. To try to explain the storyline would take away from the joy of having it unfold before you with the surprises intact. The ending is a little depressing though, so anyone who wants the happy Hollywood wrap up will not get it. This is a great film.
  
  
• A Straining of Credulity
  By A1ZOF747O5EB6R on 2008-04-21
  "Gone, Baby, Gone" is a film with great potential that somehow fails to deliver. It is a "whodunit" that, in the end, lapses into implausibility. Only the most credulous viewer could believe all the twists and turns of the plot.
  
  The essence of the story involves the abduction of a small girl who was left unattended while the mother went to a bar. Apparently, this was not an isolated occasion. The mother is a heavy drinker and drug taker who mixes with bad company. Often, the child is left to her own devices.
  
  My criticism of the film hinges on the implausible aspects of the plot. The film makers would have us believe that a high level conspiracy can exist within the Boston Police Department. Indeed, the conspiracy involves the covering up of child abduction and the resort to near vigilante tactics. Perhaps I have said too much and given away some aspects of the plot. This may be so but it is not entirely so. I am sure most viewers will not "click" to the story until near its end. Regardless, a cleverly contrived plot should not allow a story line that, upon reflection, is simply not believable.
  
  Before I finish, I have one further criticism. The starring role is played by Casey Afleck. He performs well except for one point. Namely, his dialogue often descends to mumbling. Is it just me? I suspect not. If viewers have trouble comprehending dialogue from the lead player, then the film has problems.
  
  
  
• Affleck has talent as a director
  By A1UZGR4MRYNPMC on 2007-10-21
  Gone Baby Gone is Ben Affleck's directorial debut, and it's a good one. He obviously knows this territory-the rough streets of South Boston--and this people, and the result is a movie that feels real, populated by characters who breathe, make mistakes, try their best, and often fail. The movie is full of unexpected turns, but they never feel contrived or silly, as in so many other films. I look forward to seeing Affleck's next movie.
  
  
• "Who would take my little girl?"
  By AC1K4OQOZ90RS on 2007-10-29
  The opening scene of "Gone Baby Gone" takes us back to "Mystic River" territory on the mean streets of Boston. The camera pans over a neighborhood populated by a multitude of ethnic groups, with its share of derelicts and punks, working class stiffs, and people who sit on their stoops all day peering at passersby. We learn that a gorgeous four-year-old named Amanda has been abducted from her home. Amanda's single mother, Helene McCready, played with a perfect blend of sexuality and sleaze by Amy Ryan, makes a televised plea for her daughter's return. Helene, an alcoholic and a drug addict, has never let Amanda's needs interfere with her active social life. Her contemptuous sister-in-law, Bea (Amy Madigan), who is childless, is even more broken up than Helene about Amanda's disappearance; Bea loves the child as if she were her own and would do anything to get her niece back. In desperation, Bea and her husband hire a pair of private investigators, Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) to "augment the investigation," hoping that they will accomplish what the police have failed to do--find out what happened to the little girl.
  
  Although Angie has a bad feeling about this case, she and Patrick agree to do what they can. They come to regret this decision, since Amanda's disappearance is more than just a straightforward kidnapping; it turns out to be a mysterious and complex situation fraught with lies, betrayal, hypocrisy, and mortal danger. Patrick, in particular, will be tested in ways that he could never have anticipated, and his relationship with Angie will be strained to the breaking point when the truth is finally revealed.
  
  Ben Affleck's directorial debut is impressive. He captures the atmosphere of working class Boston perfectly: the casual profanity, the lowlifes who carry on their business dealings without interference from the cops, and the racial tension are all convincingly depicted. John Toll's brooding cinematography adds to the gloom and Affleck's camera angles and close-ups heighten the drama and the intensity of the already emotional proceedings.
  
  The screenplay, adapted from the Dennis Lehane novel by Affleck and Aaron Stockard, is a bit muddy and far-fetched. Although viewers will get the general idea of what is going on, the motives and actions of the major players are sometimes unclear. A few of the actors slur their words, making it difficult to decipher the dialogue. The ending, which is a shocker, doesn't quite ring true. In spite of these flaws, the stellar performances by an outstanding cast transcend the script's deficiencies. As always, Morgan Freeman is solid as a police chief whose personal tragedy left him permanently scarred. Ed Harris is Detective Remy Bressard, a troubled and cynical cop who does not hesitate to cut corners when it suits him. Michelle Monaghan is Patrick's lovely and kindhearted girlfriend whose compassion for Amanda overrides all other considerations. The superb Casey Affleck plays the pivotal role of Patrick with an emotional toughness that is startling in someone so boyishly good looking. He is forced on several occasions to make abrupt, life-altering decisions, knowing that he may come to regret them some day. "Gone Baby Gone" is a harrowing film about selfishness, greed, immorality, and the rationalizations that we make so that we can continue to live with ourselves.
  
  
  
• Getting serious in October.
  By A1RSXP7MB772E3 on 2007-10-29
  Gone baby Gone really is one of those movies that people need after a long summer of senseless movies. I read somewhere, maybe the NYT, that casey affleck had no dimension, that he was standoffish. He fits the bill right on. Squeezed in nicely with natural Bostonians, no extras I hear. There is a plethora of plot twists and a creepy ending that makes you applaud, but then makes you question it later. It is one of those movies with enough plot points to get your head around but not so confusing as Syriana.
  
  
• Stunning
  By A2EUVEQORWIPFT on 2007-11-01
  I've started being very careful about how I rate things, and recently haven't given out very many 5-star ratings. However, Gone Baby Gone is deserves every star it can get.
  
  Stunning acting (Casey Affleck impresses, and Ed Harris is fantastic). Outstanding direction (every shot feels precise and thought out, yet Ben Affleck lets the actors do their thing, and run with it). Gritty writing (the whole picture feels alive). Seriously, this movie's story is extremely heavy, and loaded with vulgar language, substance abuse, and questions of morality. But beyond all the tension and darkness, this movie is just superb filmmaking. If it had been directed by Eastwood or Scorcese this film would be all over every cover as the greatest thing since sliced bread. The fact that it is Ben Affleck's directorial debut just making it's exponentially more astounding.
  
  Go see it.
  
  

• No Country for Old Men
• Michael Clayton (Widescreen Edition)
• American Gangster (2-Disc Unrated Extended Edition)
• The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
• We Own the Night