The holes hold the clues to solving this mystery

Rating: 6/10 (1 March 2019)

Not having read Gillian Flynn's 2012 novel of this same title, I don't know if the book had plot holes as the movie does. Fellow mystery aficionados know that for every plot hole in a story the writer is omitting or covering up a major clue. And, so this film has some, which leads crime and mystery buffs to suspect what follows.
"Gone Girl" is a good murder mystery, but not a great one. It is presented in such a way that audiences won't know right away if there has been a murder. And, it's obviously portrayed so that many will assume that Ben Affleck's Nick Dunne really "done it." (I couldn't resist.) Then, it's only a matter of time as the story unravels and viewers see the "what" and the "how" of the crime. Aha, but what crime?
I don't know if the author or the movie producers were trying to emulate Alfred Hitchcock, but the fright factor here doesn't come close to him. Nor does the suspense equal that of the usual Dashiel Hammett, Agatha Christie or John Grisham mystery. It is apparent very early that Amy Dunne has staged her disappearance to make it look like a killing, probably to get even with Nick. As the story unfolds, it bears that out.
None of the performances here are great. Some are very good - Rosamund Pike as Amy, Carrie Coon as Nick's sister, Margo, and Tyler Perry as attorney Tanner Bolt. The rest of the cast were fair to good except for Affleck. He was lifeless and underplayed his role terribly. One suspects that was intended by the director to further build suspicion of him. I just saw him as lazy, and bored stiff.
While one can see the deception very early, the second plot and murder of Desi Collings is a surprise. The end to the story isn't clear, so that keeps the suspense going.
Some other reviewers have noted the portrayals of the frenzied crowds, in response to the social media craze and modern news media that tend to be in one's face. That's a good thing to highlight. The ending doesn't bring the story to closure as endings should. In that also, "Gone Girl" doesn't belong with the good mysteries of the masters named above. Hitchcock or Hammett could wrap up the mystery and still leave readers and viewers with a question or two. But, they always saw that justice was served, one way or another. Not so, though, in this film.
Detective Rhonda Boney was very competent as a crime investigator. That is, up to the point of the plot holes. And, those are where Amy's ruse would quickly have unraveled. Here are just the most obvious ones. The first is the car Amy is driving. Was it her car, and if so, why were the police not looking for it? If it was a car she just bought or rented, she would have had to stash it some place where she could get to it quickly. And she would have had to pay for it. The car company people would have recognized her face from all the later publicity.
The second big hole, which the movie doesn't really show but talks a lot about, is the huge store of goods that Nick was supposed to have bought. When and how did Amy get all that stuff past Nick and stored in their garage and his father's house? How many people might have seen her hauling the stuff there over a few weeks? If she had bought the stuff in person, police checks would have nailed her. The golf pro or store clerk who sells a fancy set of golf clubs is not going to soon forget the person who made such a purchase. And, Nick didn't golf so no one would ever have seen him golfing. Likewise for anyone using someone else's credit card over the telephone.
Among other holes would be the tapes at Desi Collings's home that would have shown them arriving and being normal. Amy would have had to somehow erase those. And competent police would wonder why they were erased?
What was the very clue that Amy was not murdered but had planned the "crime?" It was the police finding the envelope marked Clue One. That told one that Nick did not know about that note before their anniversary, and that Amy had left it as she always did for a treasure hunt on their anniversary.
Those not satisfied with the ending might imagine any number of future horrors living with the psychotic Amy who says she is now going to have a baby. What of that poor baby or toddler the first time he or she upsets Amy? But, as the film actually ends, it invites an obvious closure that would be classic Hitchcock.
Remember Greta and Jeff who robbed Amy of all her money? Greta had sat with "Nancy," watching all the TV coverage of Amy's disappearance. She knew Amy was hiding out and had phony glasses. When she and Jeff run out of money, she will have a nice story to tell a newspaper about remembering that woman in the Ozarks. Or, if she and Jeff get in trouble with the law, she can plea-bargain by telling about that gal from the motel who was on the run with a wad of dough. She was always watching the TV coverage and commenting about the missing Amy Dunne.
Hitchcock would have a final scene as the credits role. So, the psychotic nymphomaniac, Amy, would come to justice. Greta dials the phone in a phone booth. She starts to speak, "About that Amy Dunne who said she was kidnapped and raped..." and the sound fades as the camera pulls back and the credits roll.