Alecc B. on "Gone Baby Gone"

In all honesty, I can say that I feel bad for Ben Affleck. After the debacle that was his relationship with Jennifer Lopez, Affleck's acting career has taken a nose-dive due to all the bad publicity he got. With the exception of the critical praise and Golden Globe nomination he received for Hollywoodland, The Fleck hasn't made a movie that people saw since Daredevil that was a hit, and that movie was pretty terrible as well.

So The Fleck has taken a break from acting and is making his directorial debut with Gone Baby Gone, which is also the first script he's written since winning an Academy Award for Good Will Hunting. Come to think of it, if I was Ben, and someone said I sucked, I'd carry that Oscar around and just be like, "You see this shit? That's right!" I'm sure Cuba Gooding Jr. has been doing that for the past ten years, and will probably continue to do so for the rest of his life.

With Gone Baby Gone, The Fleck has tried one last time to leave a mark in Hollywood. Does he succeed? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe fuck ya-self. Sorry, The Departed popped into my head. What I meant to say was, yes!

PLOT

A little girl goes missing in Boston. Two private investigators, Patrick and Angie, who are also romantically involved, are hired by the family of the missing girl to help the police with the search. There are people that won't talk to cops, and that's where Patrick and Angie come in. What starts out as a straight forwrad case turns into a situation with plenty of twists and hardcore Bahh-ston accents!

ACTING

Casey Affleck shines as Patrick. He's very comfortable in the lead role and even though he's a tiny guy, I totally bought him as someone who could defend himself. Michelle Monaghan plays Angie, a character that is worried how this case will affect her, no matter how it turns out. Monaghan is getting her face out there more often now, and besides the fact that she's super cute, she can really act. Her performance here is very good. Ed Harris plays one of the detectives working on the case, Remy Bressant. I don't know about you, but I look forward to seeing Harris get angry. He just looks and acts like one seriously mean mutha fucka and he carries that attitude into this film as well as he does in about every other movie. His partner, Nick Poole, is played by John Ashton. I don't think I've seen this guy since Beverly Hills Cop 2. He looks a little older and slimmer, but you can recognize him as soon as you see him. Very cool to see him on the big-screen again. Someone who looks very different now is Amy Madigan, who seems to have put on a ton of weight since Field Of Dreams. She plays the missing little girls' aunt, Beatrice. There is a whole lot-o-sadness in Beatrice, and Madigan makes that obvious even when she's not saying anything. As Beatrice's husband and brother to the mother of the girl, Lionel is played by Titus Welliver. He's pretty good but his mustache is distracting. Amy Ryan is great as Helene, the little girl's mother. There are times that you'll hate her for being a terrible mother, and other times you'll simply pity her. Morgan Freeman shows up as Jack Doyle, the man who is running the investigation. I don't think I need to say anything about his performance. We all know Freeman is the man. The Fleck wisely decided not to put himself in this film.

WRITING & DIRECTING

The Fleck had some help from Aaron Stockard in adapting Dennis Lehane's novel for Gone Baby Gone into a film. The story has a nice flow to it. The Fleck has a good ear for dialogue, as proven before with Hunting. I guess the only problem I had with the story was when it was revealed who was behind the whole kidnapping of the girl. It felt like I was watching an episode of Law & Order. In other words, it was a little much for me. There's also a scene in a bar near the end that's a bit silly.

As a director, The Fleck definitely has some skill. He's subtle in his approach to shooting scenes, but it works for this film. Gone has a dreary look to it, much like the film adaptation for one of Lehane's other novels, Mystic River. Also, while trying to prove himself with this film, Ben Affleck has also transformed his younger brother Casey into a leading man.

Hopefully, Gone Baby Gone isn't gone from the theatres before you get a chance to check it out.

Overall Review: *** stars

Best Line:

Affleck: Make me a martini you fat, fucking retard!