Decent picture for Ben, not that great overall

Rating: 5/10 (28 January 2008)

I realize Ben Affleck set the bar really low with Pearl Harbor, Gigli, and Reindeer Games but that doesn't mean we should give him more credit than necessary for decent work. This picture has 5'2" 110-lb Casey Affleck as the star "detective" who apparently can easily knock down people a foot taller. Absolutely ridiculous and totally miscast. The story was interesting, but predictable at the end (did we think the girl was really dead?). It was interesting to see Morgan Freeman as the "bad" guy but there were too many clues that gave the ending away.
Casey Affleck's character's girlfriend was equally annoying. She gives him crap for continuing to obsess over the missing girl case but then when he finds the truth, she judge's him for how he wants to handle it. And she suddenly can't deal with how he handles it to the point where she must declare she can't stay with him. He did all of the leg work with hours of dedication and passion, IT'S HIS DECISION TO MAKE! It's not reasonable for her character to suddenly not respect the man she "loves", it's annoying. She's conveniently thickening the plot so Casey's character has an even bigger decision to make. Or maybe it was a good excuse to get out of the relationship because he is a tool.
The movie was filmed well with natural scenes shot in Boston, but Casey Affleck, his moron girlfriend, and predictable plot twists ruin it.