GONE BABY GONE (Ben Affleck, 2007) ***

Rating: 7/10 (27 February 2008)

This is another Oscar contender I managed to catch in time for the ceremony; I’ve never been taken in by Ben Affleck’s supposed acting talent – but it’s also true that his endeavors in other fields, such as his Oscar-winning writing credit on GOOD WILL HUNTING (1997) and his directorial debut here, have been worthier of consideration! The film garnered a fair bit of controversy due to its plot line about the alleged kidnapping of a toddler mirroring the real-life case of Madeleine McCann, in which her own parents may or may not have been implicated; without spoiling the eventual revelation, this element is present in the film as well – but it has been given a decidedly Hollywoodian thriller slant!
Anyway, I have to admit that I was expecting this to be a sentimental melodrama as opposed to a compelling thriller in the MYSTIC RIVER (2003) mould; even if the leads (Casey Affleck, the director’s younger brother, and Michelle Monaghan) are far too young to convince as detectives, the film finds veteran Ed Harris (that most underrated of today’s character actors) in sterling form as a shady cop – abetted by the quiet fortitude of the no-less reliable Morgan Freeman as the Head of a Special Section in the local police force dedicated to missing children (which he personally instigated following the loss of his own daughter!) and, especially, a very good i.e. showy Oscar-nominated showcase for virtual unknown Amy Ryan as the little girl’s ‘bad influence’ mum (foul-mouthed and more prone to sleeping around, coke-snorting and drug-dealing than fostering). Perhaps the film’s greatest coup is that the ending offers no easy answers as to whether a child should be allowed to stay with an irresponsible parent simply for reasons of lineage, given the devastating effect this could have on the former’s grown-up life.