Very nice, Ben; so you can stop acting now, right?

Rating: 7/10 (1 April 2008)

GONE BABY GONE features a not at all bad directorial job by the elder Affleck, and another fine performance from the younger. In my opinion, it's also a much better adaptation of Dennis Lehane's brand of medium-dark pulp fiction than Clint Eastwood's overwrought, unconvincing MYSTIC RIVER.
Ben Affleck and his partner Aaron Stockard have drawn up a more or less faithful script, bleak, sad and pop-poignant like the novels that spawned it. Ben also wrings a lot out of some gritty local casting, and gets strong journeyman performances from veterans Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman, John Ashton, Titus Welliver and Amy Madigan. Amy Ryan is very good, but it's hard to see what all the Oscar fuss was about. Casey Affleck is as good as he ever is, which is to say very.
The thing is, this is a silly story in the first place, with the cynical, unnecessary and unlikely twists common to American detective fiction since Hammett and Chandler started lighting matches with their thumbnails. Like its source material, the movie is at its best when dealing with the strained interaction and bleak emotions of humanity in extremis; again like its literary origins, it is less credible in its handling of plot device and character motivation.
Whatever. Ben Affleck makes a wise career choice for the first time in a while, writing and directing with flashless competence. More of this, please, and less, uh, GIGLIness.