Gone Baby Gone

Gone Baby Gone is a 2007 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Ben Affleck in his directorial debut. Affleck co-wrote the screenplay with Aaron Stockard based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane. The film stars Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan as two Boston private investigators hunting for a young girl abducted from her single mother's apartment in Dorchester. The supporting cast includes Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, and Amy Ryan. It was the final film to be released by The Ladd Company before its closure.

Released on October 19, 2007, Gone Baby Gone was well-received by critics and grossed $34 million worldwide against a $19 million budget. Ben Affleck was lauded for his directing debut by critics, while Amy Ryan received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Plot

In Dorchester, Boston, P.I. Patrick Kenzie and his partner and girlfriend Angie Gennaro witness a televised plea by Helene McCready for the return of her abducted four-year-old daughter Amanda, whose favorite doll is Mirabelle. Amid the media frenzy, Amanda's aunt Bea and uncle Lionel hire the detectives to find her.

Knowing various criminals, Patrick discovers that Helene and her boyfriend Ray are addicts and drug mules for local Haitian drug lord Cheese, and had recently stolen $130,000 from him. After finding Ray has been murdered by Cheese's men, Patrick and Angie join police detectives Remy Bressant and Nick Poole to find Amanda, whom they believe has been taken by Cheese. Helene reveals she buried the money in Ray’s backyard and tearfully makes Patrick promise he will bring Amanda home alive.

Patrick meets with Cheese and tries to negotiate returning the stolen money in exchange for Amanda, but he denies any involvement in the girl's disappearance. The following day, Captain Jack Doyle reads Patrick a telephone transcript of Cheese calling the station to set up an exchange for the girl.

The exchange at a nearby quarry is botched after a gunfight breaks out, and Cheese is killed. It is believed that Amanda fell into the quarry's pond and drowned; Angie retrieves her doll and returns it to Helene. Doyle, whose own daughter was killed years before, goes into early retirement soon afterwards.

Two months later, a seven-year-old boy is abducted in Everett, and Patrick receives information that he was taken by Corwin Earle, a known child molester, who is living with two married cocaine addicts. Patrick sneaks into the house, observes evidence of the abducted boy, so returns with Remy and Nick late at night to rescue him.

Before they can enter the house, the woman starts shooting and fatally wounds Nick before chasing Patrick into Corwin's room. He discovers the dead child, executes Corwin as Remy arrives and then kills the woman. The following evening, an intoxicated Remy tries to alleviate Patrick's guilt, confiding that he once planted evidence on an abusive husband to help the man's family escape with Ray's help. Patrick recalls that previously Remy had told him he didn't know Ray.

Following Nick's funeral, Patrick speaks to police officer Devin, telling him that Remy lied to him about knowing Ray. Devin tells him Remy and Doyle knew about Cheese's stolen money before Cheese did. Patrick goads Lionel into meeting him in a bar and pieces together that he and Remy had staged a fake kidnapping to keep the drug money for themselves and to teach Helene a lesson, which Lionel finally admits.

Remy enters the bar wearing a mask, staging a robbery to interrupt their conversation. Patrick realizes that he plans to kill them so he yells loudly that Remy kidnapped Amanda. The bartender shoots him, he flees, pursued by Patrick, but succumbs to his wounds.

Patrick is questioned by the police and realizes Doyle is involved when he learns that the police don't use phone transcripts. Arriving at Doyle's, Patrick and Angie find Amanda alive and well. He admits he was part of the kidnapping and helped set up the fake exchange to frame Cheese. When Patrick threatens to call the authorities, Doyle tries to convince him that Amanda will have a better life with him than with her neglectful mother.

Patrick discusses the choice with Angie, who says she will hate him if he returns Amanda to her mother, making the case that the girl will grow up much more safely and happily if they leave her to be raised by Doyle. However, he calls the police regardless, as he'd promised Helene and believes she belongs with her, regardless of her bad parenting. Doyle and Lionel are arrested, and Patrick and Angie break up.

Patrick later visits Helene as she is preparing for a date. Learning she has not arranged for a babysitter, he volunteers. After she leaves, Patrick sits down and asks Amanda about her doll, Mirabelle, but she says its name is Anabelle. They then sit in silence watching TV, with Patrick realizing Helene didn't even know her daughter's favorite doll's name, wondering if he had made a mistake bringing her back to this toxic household.

Cast

Production

Filming took place on site in Boston (mainly South Boston) and extras were often local passers-by. Other locations used include the former Quincy Quarries.

Release

Released on October 19, 2007, the film grossed $20.3 million in the U.S. and Canada and $14.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $34.6 million against its $19 million budget.

The UK release was originally set for December 28, 2007, but was pushed back to June 6, 2008, due to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. The Malaysian release was originally set for September 20, 2007, but was postponed to March 27, 2008, due to the kidnapping and murder of eight-year-old Nurin Jazlin.

Reception

Critical response

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 94% of 184 critics gave the film positive reviews, with an average rating of 7.80/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Ben Affleck proves his directing credentials in this gripping dramatic thriller, drawing strong performances from the excellent cast and bringing working-class Boston to the screen." Metacritic assigned the film an average score of 72 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone raved "The brothers Affleck both emerge triumphant in this mesmerizing thriller." Patrick Radden Keefe criticized the film for overstating the case in an otherwise laudable attempt to "capture Boston in all its sordid glory," writing that "The result is not so much what Mean Streets did for New York as what Deliverance did for Appalachia."

Ryan's performance in particular was singled out for acclaim, resulting in wins for the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress and National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress, as well as nominations for the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award.

In an issue of Vrij Nederland, Dutch critic and writer Arnon Grunberg called the book good, but the movie better, saying "Gone Baby Gone might not be a perfect film, but it's definitely an important one, if only to raise the question: 'What is home?'"

Top 10 lists

The film appeared on 65 critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007.

• 2nd – Christy Lemire, Associated Press
• 4th – Ben Lyons, The Daily 10
• 6th – Richard Roeper, At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper
• 6th – Michael Medved, The Best and Worst of 2007
• 7th – James Berardinelli, ReelViews
• 8th – Noel Murray, The A.V. Club
• 9th – Keith Phipps, The A.V. Club

Awards and nominations

Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on February 12, 2008.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to Gone Baby Gone was released on October 16, 2007.

References

External links

• Gone Baby Gone at IMDb
• Gone Baby Gone at Rotten Tomatoes
• Gone Baby Gone at Metacritic
• Gone Baby Gone at Box Office Mojo
• Gone Baby Gone at AllMovie
• "Human Frailty and Pain on Boston's Mean Streets". The New York Times. October 19, 2007.