'My God, this place literally smells like feces.'

Rating: 6/10 (8 January 2015)

Gillian Flynn wrote the best selling novel and then adapted his own success to the screen. David Fincher (Fight Club, Se7en, The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Panic Room, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, etc) directs this twisted tale of hate and anger and passion and deceit and obsession and the minds of sociopaths, and out comes a film being considered for an Oscar. Wow, are we all really into this?
On the occasion of his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck, chubby and out of shape) reports that his wife, Amy (Rosamund Pike), has gone missing. Under pressure from the police (a very well cast Kim Dickens and Patrick Fugit et al) and a growing media frenzy, Nick's portrait of a blissful union begins to crumble. Soon his lies, deceits and strange behavior have everyone asking the same dark question: Did Nick Dunne kill his wife? Nick's sister Margo (Carrie Coon, excellent) is supportive and grounded, Nick's lawyer Tanner Bolt (Tyler Perry, never better), Amy's previous lover Desi (Neil Patrick Harris), and a television interviewer Sharon Schieber (Sela Ward) and other actors who can't be mentioned because doing so would give the plot away make this very long and sick film work.
So, very superb acting from everyone involved, careful direction that makes sure the audience is able to witness all the disgusting twists and turns of this warped story make it obvious why this is an Oscar contender. As a story it is a profoundly sad commentary on marriage, the paparazzi, gossip, television news casting, and our current hunger for sick stories that fail to resolve anything. Watch it at your own risk – and with an antiemetic handy.