Gone Baby Gone

Gone Baby Gone
Studio: Miramax
Rated: R
Cast: Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan
Director: Ben Affleck
WorkNameSort: Gone Baby Gone
Our Rating: 3.50
This film will receive a lot more scrutiny than most movies this autumn, if only because Ben “I used to spend all my waking hours giving the media a reason to hate me” Affleck directed it. Based on the Dennis Lehane novel and set in Affleck’s hometown of Boston, the crime thriller revolves around the disappearance of a young girl and the efforts by pint-sized private dick (Ben’s brother, Casey) and his girlfriend (Michelle Monaghan) to track her down despite the best efforts of police (like Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris), drug dealers and even the child’s own family to deter them. The older Affleck makes a fine turn behind the camera, utilizing Boston as a character much like Gus Van Sant did in his Good Will Hunting, though he stretches the final act 30 minutes longer than necessary. Casey Affleck, on the other hand, delivers one of the year’s best performances, next to one of the year’s other best performances – his, in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

This article appears in Oct 17-23, 2007.