A Pot Boiler by Any Other Name....

Rating: 7/10 (7 December 2014)

I've decided that David Fincher as a director is only as good as his writers. All of his movies look and move the same. They're all dreary grays and browns and each one gives the impression that Fincher is striving to make The Great American Movie whether or not the subject matter warrants. It falls, then, to his writers to distinguish one of his movies from the next, and if there is any playfulness or humour in a Fincher film, it's not because he put it there.
I haven't read "Gone Girl," but since the screenplay is by the same woman who wrote the book, I trust that the film is fairly faithful both in story and tone to the story on which it is based. In that case, it's a crock of hooey masquerading as a serious work of art, a pot boiler that pretends to have something to say. Indeed, I've heard that Gillian Flynn intended for her book to be a commentary on modern marriage, to which I say, HA!
"Gone Girl" is entertaining enough while you're watching it, but the thing completely unravels as soon as you start thinking about it afterwards. It's all about plot and nothing about character. To a certain extent, Flynn has made her story critic proof, because the lead female character, played well by Rosamund Pike, is just flat-out insane, which means she doesn't have to be consistent and her motives don't have to be plausibly explained, because the explanation is "Hey, she's crazy!" Makes for a convenient narrative device but isn't especially interesting as a central character. Ben Affleck fades into the background, proving once again that he's far more interesting behind the camera than in front of it.
Don't get me wrong, I actually enjoyed "Gone Girl" for what it was but didn't give it an once more credit than it deserved. And the ratings here at IMDb at the time of this review!! The 86th best movie of all time? Give me a break. Anyone who thinks "Gone Girl" deserves to be on the list of 100 greatest movies ever made needs to see some more movies.
Grade: B