What did you think of GONE BABY GONE?

[indianasmith]

My wife and I watched this last night on a strong recommendation from a friend, and I must say I was somewhat disappointed. The movie was well-acted, but I wound up thoroughly disliking it.  My wife even commented that her life would have been improved by not seeing this movie, a strong criticism coming from her.

First off, there was the language.  I spent four years in the Navy and am not necessarily offended by bad language, if it serves the purpose of the plot.  But in this case, the profanity was in overkill mode.  I mean, if you drop the F-bomb to say good morning to someone, what is left to say when you actually hit your finger with a hammer?  Nothing except to drop the F-bomb again, and again, and again, and again. It gets very tiresome after awhile.

Then, all the actors that I liked that were in this movie wound up playing rather dislikable characters.  Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman both wound up doing horrible things for what was supposed to be a noble reason, and Casey Affleck did the right thing and wound up regretting it.  The little girl whose abduction is the backdrop for the whole story is just a cipher, who barely speaks three lines the entire film.  Her mother is perhaps the most despicable character in the whole movie, a junkie whore who learns nothing from the whole ordeal and winds up in the same morass she was in when the movie started.  In short, the entire film was depressing and miserable, and the talent of the actors involved only made its impact on the viewer more negative.

[peter johnson]

I get everything you say, but I still would give it props for its unflinching confrontation of personal codes and morality, re. Where do your values lie?
Hard to talk about without spoilers -- So don't read this if you haven't seen it & want things more of a surprise.



While I do agree about the language and the sheer repulsiveness of the characters, especially the bar scene, I would still say that the film took a huge risk in having Affleck's character stay true to his convictions that a child belongs with its mother, regardless of the consequences to his own life -- the loss of his love -- etc.  I thought this was a daring thing for the film to do, and thus it held my interest.  In this way, it compares with In Bruges, in that what drives the characters is personal conviction and their own codes of honor.  Plus I'll even watch Morgan Freeman in Stephen King adaptations, so no problem there. 
I guess it's all in how things strike you -- I've seen far worse things than this, with far more repellant characters.  I thought the actress playing the junkie mother was wonderful in what she did, and so she held my interest as well.  My wife did not enjoy the numerous false endings, but I sort of liked those too.
So, not the best -- In Bruges and Jesse James blow this out of the water as far as recent films with similar themes go -- but far from the worst.
peter johnson/denny crane