I'm sorry I didn't see Gone Baby Gone when it was out in theaters last year. I figured it was another whodunit with an unfortunate title. After seeing it yesterday at my local $2 moviehouse, I left thinking it's probably one of the best films of 2007. Showing us that Good Will Hunting wasn't a fluke, Ben Affleck co-wrote the profanity-laced screenplay and made his directorial debut in Gone. It is almost a love letter to his hometown of Boston.
Brother Casey Affleck plays Patrick Kenzie, a private detective living in Beantown's working-class section of Dorchester. He and his girlfriend Angela Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) investigate the disappearance of four-year-old Amanda McCready from the same neighborhood. Amanda's mother Helene, fiercely portrayed by Tony and Golden Globe nominee Amy Ryan, is a druggie. (Probably one of the most unfit and unsympathetic screen mothers ever.) Ed Harris, John Ashton and Morgan Freeman play members of Boston's Finest who are leading the investigation. Mrs. Ed Harris (Amy Madigan) plays Bea, and Titus Welliver is Lionel, the girl's aunt and uncle who hire the PIs.
Based on an earlier novel written by "Mystic River" author Dennis Lehane, this is "Mystic River" lite. In Kenzie and Gennaro's search for the little girl, they encounter drug dealers, pedophiles (this sub-plot is so unsavory but important) and dirty cops. (I wonder why Boston's police force are never good guys in movies.) The revelations near the end of the movie just made me want to shout "Oh the moral ambiguity!" and ask the eternal question: What Would I Do?
This movie is enough to erase the memories of Gigli or Jersey Girl. I await Mr. Affleck's sophomore effort. Brother Casey is definitely a must-watch actor and star.
The DVD will be released on 12 February 2008. (Photo from Yahoo!)
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