Gone Girl (2014)
The Gist
Liars & Cheaters: Ben Affleck (Nick Dunne); Rosamund Pike (Amy Dunne); Carrie Coon (Margo Dunne); Kim Dickens (Detective Rhonda Boney); Neil Patrick Harris (Desi Collings)
My Take: I was really looking forward to seeing this flick after reading the book but just couldn’t bring myself to sit in a theatre for 2.5 hours. I finally sat down and invested the time in the comfort of my living room and all in all, it was alright. I’ll do my best to go over the movie without adding any spoilers as this is a mystery/thriller and if you haven’t read the book the tale will be fresh and you don’t want it spoiled.
Nick and Amy Dunne, two writers living the American dream in New York are forced to leave behind their affluent lives and return to Nick’s hometown of North Carthage, Missouri when they both lose their jobs and his mother is diagnosed with cancer. Fast forward to the couple’s 5th anniversary and all is not rosy and perfect for this less than happy couple. The morning of their anniversary changes both of their lives forever when Nick discovers his living room in shambles and Amy missing. He quickly becomes the prime suspect and works to clear his name and find out what happened to his wife.
This was a very well done movie directed by David Fitchner (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Fight Club) and starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike as Nick and Amy; great acting by both of them. I didn’t however, care for the performance by Cary Coon who played Margo or Go (Nick’s twin sister). I can’t really pinpoint why, it was just that her performance felt forced, like she was acting too much, if that makes sense. The rest of the cast was really good, including Neil Patrick Harris as Desi Collins, the stalkerish rich boy pining for Amy. Another issue I had with the flick was that there were times, usually in the flashbacks of Amy and Nick’s early relationship, where the background music was overshadowing the dialogue and I couldn’t always hear what they were saying. That could just be my bad hearing though.
Neil Patrick Harris as Desi Collins
One other issue with the movie was that I felt, even though this is a long movie, that it wasn’t fleshed out enough and it felt like there was a lot missing as compared to the book. Of course, that is the problem with movies adapting from books, you lose the minor details that can’t be added to a movie because it’s just too much minutia to translate into a certain time frame.
Final Thoughts: The story, the presentation, the acting, these things make “Gone Girl” a good mystery movie. The weak acting by Cary Coon fortunately doesn’t detract from the flick. For me, I may have enjoyed it more if I hadn’t read the book first as I was missing the finer details of Nick and Amy’s story. That being said, I highly recommend the movie as well as the book.
Dawning Creates 