Gone Baby Gone (2007)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Gone baby gone is a great film that takes a long of sticking with, the acting is very believabable and the feeling of the film is intense throughout. It's one of the films that's a once time viewing rather than a returner, but an impressive role by Casey Affleck and a good watch

Our choices make our realities, either good or bad. The question is; what is really good or bad? Is the world black or white? Can there be grey areas? These are the type of questions you will be asking yourself after watching this magnificent film.Gone Baby Gone is based on Dennis Lehane's Mystic River. It follows two Boston private investigators that are given the case of missing 4-year old Amanda McCready. During the investigation, the private investigators work with Boston detectives in hope of finding Amanda alive and well.To my shocking, this film marks the directorial debut of Ben Affleck. I have to say, he did more than a great job. Ben's brother, Casey Affleck, and Michelle Monaghan star as the private investigators. They both were authentic in their acting. The acting all around was very realistic which I believe is vital to this story.Speaking of realistic, the montages of urban Boston were extremely authentic. The extras used looked like they lived in the streets of Boston their whole life. This really made me feel the story was real and I was watching it unfold right before my eyes.The writing in this film is wonderful. It kept me on edge and had me thinking, there has to be more, something just doesn't seem right. The actors did a great job of portraying the story line. I like how despite Casey being a "young looking fellow" and presumably under qualified, according to the detectives, he had the guts to question everything, even when it could cost him his life.Overall this is a great mystery that you deserve to unfold. This film questions morality and exploits human behavior. I loved this film and I bet you will too.

The "mom" was not fit take care of anything but a raging trouser-snake. C Affleck is always tedious & in this he was a moron & a joke. That loser would have never had a decent girlfriend. Instead, he would have been chopped to bits by some gangbanger years before. I'll give Lehane a pass for the over-the-top plot. That is what authors of sensationalist fiction do. Most of the main cast was great. Direction OK.

Gone Baby Gone (2007) is a crime drama co-written and directed by Ben Affleck. It stars Casey Affleck as Patrick Kenzie, a private detective who works in Dorchester. Dorchester is a huge neighborhood in Boston. It contains upscale areas but also some really rough spots. The overall crime rate in Dorchester is 30% higher than the national average, so it's not a very peaceful place.The premise of the movie is that Kenzie grew up in Dorchester and knows everyone in his neighborhood. He's hired to find a kidnapped girl by the girl's aunt. The thought is that he can talk to people who wouldn't talk to the police. As it turns out, the aunt is right and Kenzie learns things by talking to people who will talk to him.The supporting cast is very strong. Michelle Monaghan portrays Angie Gennaro, Kenzie's lover and his detective partner. Morgan Freeman portrays Jack Doyle, the head of the kidnapping squad, and Ed Harris portrays Remy Bressant, one of the detectives assigned to the case. They all do well in their supporting roles.The problem for me is that I think Casey Affleck was the wrong actor for this role. Director Affleck knew that. There's a line where Kenzie tells the police something like, "I may look young, but I'm 31." In fact, Affleck really was 31 when the movie was produced. However, he looks more like an Explorer Scout working on his Law and Justice merit badge than he looks like a street-hardened private detective.Truth in reviewing--there were so many very bad guys, pretty bad guys, and somewhat bad guys in the movie that I lost track of which bad guy was on the screen at any given moment. Win some, lose some. However, I have to admit that the basic question raised by the film was interesting and not easy to answer. The question is whether the end justifies the means. Do you do what the law says is right, or do you do what may well be wrong, but could have a better outcome? Although I believe Affleck was the wrong actor for this role at that time, he portrays his doubts about the case very well. (I should say that I thought Affleck was superb in Manchester by the Sea. In 2016 he was the right actor in the right role.)This movie worked well enough on DVD. It has an excellent 7.7 IMDb rating. I may be overly critical, but it just didn't work for me.