Gone Baby Gone (2007)

Two Boston area detectives investigate a little girl's kidnapping, which ultimately turns into a crisis both professionally and personally.

Director:

Ben Affleck

Writers:

Ben Affleck (screenplay), Aaron Stockard (screenplay)

Stars:

Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Casey Affleck

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 34 wins & 30 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Casey Affleck	...	Patrick Kenzie
Michelle Monaghan	...	Angie Gennaro
Morgan Freeman	...	Jack Doyle
Ed Harris	...	Remy Bressant
John Ashton	...	Nick Poole
Amy Ryan	...	Helene McCready
Amy Madigan	...	Bea McCready
Titus Welliver	...	Lionel McCready
Michael Kenneth Williams	...	Devin
Edi Gathegi	...	Cheese
Mark Margolis	...	Leon Trett
Madeline O'Brien	...	Amanda McCready
Slaine	...	Bubba
Trudi Goodman	...	Roberta Trett
Matthew Maher	...	Corwin Earle

Storyline

When 4 year old Amanda McCready disappears from her home and the police make little headway in solving the case, the girl's aunt Beatrice McCready hires two private detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. The detectives freely admit that they have little experience with this type of case, but the family wants them for two reasons - they're not cops and they know the tough Boston neighborhood in which they all live. As the case progresses, Kenzie and Gennaro face drug dealers, gangs and pedophiles. When they are about to solve their case, they are faced with a moral dilemma that could tear them apart.

---

Plot Keywords:

moral dilemma | missing child | surprise ending | kidnapping | private detective | 

---

Taglines:

Everyone Wants The Truth... Until They Find It.

---

Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, drug content and pervasive language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 October 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Gone Baby Gone

Filming Locations:

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$19,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,501,406, 21 October 2007

Gross USA:

$20,300,218

Company Credits

Production Co:

Miramax Films, The Ladd Company, LivePlanet

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

DTS SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film's UK release, scheduled for December 28, 2007, was postponed for almost six months, because of the film's similarity to the real-life case of four-year-old Madeleine McCann, who disappeared from the holiday apartment, where she and her family were staying in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on May 3, 2007.

---

Goofs

The inspection stickers on the vehicles have a "0" before the number of month of which they are inspected. In Massachusetts, they do not.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Patrick Kenzie: I always believed it was the things you don't choose that makes you who you are. Your city, your neighborhood, your family. People here take pride in these things, like it was something they'd accomplished. The bodies around their souls, the cities wrapped around those. I lived on this block my whole life; most of these people have. When your job is to find people who are missing, it helps to know where they started. I find the people who started in the cracks and then fell through...

---

Crazy Credits

In the credits, Ben Affleck gives special thanks to Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, both members of the Boston Red Sox World Series championship teams of 2004 and 2007.

---

Connections

Referenced in The Simpsons: Gone Abie Gone (2012)

---

Soundtracks

No Matter What You Do
Written by Arthur Lee
Performed by Mojave 3
Courtesy of 4AD Ltd.

User Reviews

Flawed film with a great deal of promise

It is now largely forgotten that Ben Affleck's big break was not as an actor in but as a writer of "Good Will Hunting". His career has never lived up to the promise of his performance in that film (a quiet and subtle display) and has been overshadowed by the success of his friend and co-Oscar-winner, Matt Damon. With "Gone Baby Gone", Affleck moves back behind the camera, directing and writing, whilst his brother Casey, who really impressed in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford", takes the lead.

The film is a gritty thriller at first, with a quite masterful opening which is engrossing and effective. The sense of location is evident from the start and both Afflecks demonstrate their talents. Casey is an interesting screen presence, and Ben is an unfussy director with an eye for location and images.

The film is served well be the stellar cast. Ed Harris is very good, as is Michelle Monaghan and the Oscar nominated Amy Ryan is fantastic, whilst Morgan Freeman is Morgan Freeman, which is nice. They do make the film easy to watch, even though the subject matter, focussing on child abduction, is difficult to deal with.

However, although the subject matter is treated well throughout most of the film, its fatal flaw is that it lets itself go in the third act. The plot twists and turns three times toward the end to lose nearly all credibility and then loses any that it had left by landing on a truly unbelievable conclusion. Its focus on character is not lost, but it is still a disappointment to see such a tightly played drama unwind at the end.

Nevertheless, this film has much promise. Its subject matter should be a consideration for anyone who is thinking of seeing this, but it is an intelligent and interesting film which is worth watching, mainly because of what it might be the precursor of.