Writer/director Ben Affleck misfires in debut, as screen adaptation of GONE BABY GONE lacks depth and impact.

Rating: 4/10 (13 April 2008)

Lehane is a terrific writer and there was much to like about the book, including his wry humor, the nuances of the characters and the many twists and turns of plot. I was surprised at the casting choices, including Casey Affleck (who looked too young), the child's mother (who looked too old), the police captain (who changed races), the detective "Bressant" (far too hard-bitten and one dimensional a character) and Cheese (how did he get to be a Haitian street lord, and why wasn't he in prison?). The character depiction of the detective (Broussard, inexplicably changed to Bressant) that made his compliance with the conspiracy believable in the book was also unfortunately missing in the film, and it came off as just another predictable, die-cut Ed Harris performance. I confess that Casey Affleck's performance grew on me a bit through the course of the film, but the casting was still wrong, and undercut his believability as regards the supposed maturity and experience of the character. (Hmmm, I wonder if being the brother of the director had anything to do with the choice?) His raspy, mumbling Boston accent was often difficult to follow, right from the opening narration (which I found unconvincing when I could understand it). Both of the cops were badly cast, IMO, as the partner who ultimately died is a warmed-over character actor who always, always plays a cop. I found myself trying to remember what other films I'd seen him play cops in. The events at the quarry, which were so central to the book, were glossed over and greatly diminished in the film. I forgot to mention that Freeman's performance seemed tired and uninspired, even in the final scenes. Just another payday for him. Perhaps it's unfair to compare the book and the film, but as a faithful adaptation of the book (why do I keep expecting this??) it pretty much sucked. I would have to conclude that the "screenwriters" either speed-read the book and missed most of what made it special, or saw it but didn't know how to make it work on screen. Big brother Affleck gets a C- for his directorial debut, as (in my opinion) he failed to wrest anything golden from his players, and a D- as a screenwriter, for missing the best parts of the book. This seemed to me more like a movie-of-the-week with a couple of high-priced actors thrown in to get people to watch. Music score was okay but forgettable. Two bones.