"Gone Baby Gone"
There are times when I forget that Ben Affleck had some talent. OK, 98 percent of the time I forget that fact, but in his directorial debut “Gone Baby Gone,” Affleck brings back the gritty Boston last seen in “Good Will Hunting” and brings a gifted cast together into a slightly mediocre story.
What is there to like: Great set of primary players with Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan and Amy Ryan. With Ryan’s Helene McCready, the easy route would be to turn that role into a druggie caricature, but she rises above what the script most likely calls for and makes you hate her. The unrecognizable Boston is a nice touch. Film cliches like the lack of r’s in the Boston accent, everyone loving the Red Sox and the mandatory shot of Beacon Hill aren’t there. Thank goodness.
What is there to not like: The plot. I don’t watch “CSI” or its many hybrids because I can solve each case in the first five minutes. With “Gone,” it took about 45 minutes. So I’m stuck with 75 minutes of waiting for the end. Poor uses of Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris. Brilliant actors are used to feel in archaic roles they have place three times before in the 1990s. Yawn.
Overall, it’s better than what I expected from the Afflecks, but now imagine it with Bennifer I and your brain will explode into horror.
permalink | | film | 03/26/2008
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