Gone Baby Gone (2007)

Overall rating from 1 to 100: 94

O Masterpiece (100)
X Excellent (75-99)
O Rental (60-74)
O OK (50-59)
O Mediocrity (30-49)
O Avoid (1-29)

Review by Jason Pyles / October 22, 2007

“Gone Baby Gone” is a good, hard punch in the face. Calling it entertainment seems inappropriate, but calling this movie excellent is right on the money. Few movies have left me frozen in the theater seat after the credits began to roll, but this one did.

More than disturbing, “Gone Baby Gone” is unsettling. If you think I’ve revealed the ending, or anything significant about the movie by writing that, you’re wrong. This review contains no spoilers. Consider all of the above mere warnings. Besides, you couldn’t possibly guess the film’s final shot and its penetrating reality.

A child has been abducted in Boston. An adorable, little four-year-old girl named Amanda McCready (Madeline O’Brien) has vanished. Seventy-six hours have passed. Maybe the unthinkable has happened (or is happening).

The little girl’s aunt and uncle hire Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan, the cool gal from “The Heartbreak Kid”) as private detectives to help with the search. Despite the Boston police’s not being thrilled about their new “partners,” the investigators all work together on their common goal.

We follow the police and the detectives during this investigation into a grotesque menagerie of seedy characters, and the vilest of all may be the missing girl’s drug-addict “mother,” a word that’s only true in the biological sense. That is all I will write regarding what the movie is about. The following describes how it is about it.

“Gone Baby Gone” is dreadfully sad and difficult to watch, but not for the reasons you’d think. If you’re human, while watching you’ll have tears, anger and anxiety close to the surface. And if you’re sensitive, some of those will spill over.

But it’s important to note that “Gone Baby Gone” is not cheaply manipulative. A horrifying look into a pedophile’s dwelling shows us unpleasant things, but not the all-too-common graphic, ghastly exploitation trend of the modern horror genre.

The movie notably raises questions about “justice” for pedophiles, child neglecters, abusers and killers.

“Gone Baby Gone” has many strengths, but its casting by Nadia Aleyd and Donna Morong is unrivaled all the way back to “The Godfather” (1972). Let me be more emphatic: If there were a casting Oscar, those two would get it, probably for the next two years. The people selected to inhabit the characters for these roles are picture perfect, as well as fine actors.

Speaking of fine acting, Casey Affleck (Ben’s little brother) has established himself as a dramatic force to be reckoned with. This performance and his role in “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” are both stellar. And if you haven’t seen his experimental film that he starred in with Matt Damon called “Gerry” (2002), it would be a good choice for expanding your cinematic-viewing horizons.

Veteran actor Morgan Freeman delivers a shattering monologue that is unbearable to hear. It’s not that it’s graphic; it’s just potent. Ed Harris is nothing less than ferocious, and his goatee adds to his ferocity.

“Gone Baby Gone” is rated R for violence (which is considerable), drug content (which is significant) and “pervasive language” (which is an understatement). Pervasive, indeed.

This film isn’t perfect, though. At one point the movie becomes purposely confusing. Don’t worry: Even the most careful viewer will be lost, for that is what is intended. The twists and turns pile up a little too high, however, detracting from the realism of the film’s themes. This movie is too heavy to go out on a limb that far. But two primary episodic narratives told as a mini story sandwiched within a larger one makes up for some of the deficit.

Oh, and I can’t forget to compliment a momentary, stylistic use of silence that hearkens back to “Cop Land” (1997).

Ben Affleck has made a fine film, a movie about doing the right thing (and whether that’s always the best thing). Life-changing movies, if they exist at all, may only be fleeting and temporary. And that’s too bad, because films like “Gone Baby Gone” need to stick ... permanently.

Directed by Ben Affleck
Casey Affleck / Morgan Freeman / Ed Harris
114 min. Drama / Mystery
MPPA: R (for violence, drug content and pervasive language)

Copyright 2007. 202