Gone Girl - quick review (1 Viewer)

"Gone Girl" may be categorized as being a dramatic mystery, but it's also funny and spot on with its skewering of the media when it comes to sensational missing persons cases.

Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) comes home on his 5th wedding anniversary to find his house disheveled, and his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) missing. The ensuing plotline twisted and turned, and for me, produced a lot of laughs in spots for both relief and cheeky self-awareness of the situations.

Director David Fincher continues his story-telling mastery, the film is 2.5 hours long, but the pacing and delivery of story bits keeps the film moving without major dull spots. In combining characterization and plot motivations, the story is simply entertaining, without the fidgeting of being a monotonously boring cinematic exercise. The direction is not flashy, the camerawork does not call attention to itself, but services the story, producing a film you never want to look away while watching it.

So, a fine cast, an engaging script, and deft direction make for a solid film.

I give it 3.75 stars, or a grade of A-.

I thought it was great. Patrick hit on what was good (the direction, the cast, the pacing, the points made about society & the media). Big thumbs up to whoever made the trailers because it doesn't ruin the entire movie. This is one of the year's best.

Patrick Sun said:

...and spot on with its skewering of the media when it comes to sensational missing persons cases.

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I hope that Nancy Grace and other 'tragedy vampires' see this movie and feel awful but that would require them to be human.

I agree. Terrific film with great performances. One of the years best. ***1/2 out of ****

We went to see this last night. This film is going to do for dating what Jaws did for swimming in the ocean.

I was kind of spoiled early on, in that So I assumed it was going to be a police-procedural with a shocker ending.

It is that for about the first half-hour, but then shit takes a turn into...Jerry Springer as directed by Fincher. It's nuts. It's bonkers, it's trashy, but it's so much fun. This is officially the most I've enjoyed Tyler Perry in just about anything.

Affleck is fantastic, and Carrie Coon has officially delivered this year's huge "one-two" acting-punch, between The Leftovers, and here, as Nick's scene-stealing, wiseass twin sister who gets most of the film's best lines.

The detective was also great. But Pike is going to be the real memorable performance here.

Also, Affleck totally gets to fuck the "Blurred Lines" chick in this movie.

Wait, Andie was the brunette in the "Blurred Lines" music video? Sweet!

She was in this years Swim Suit issue as well.Treats "started" her foray into...well...exposure.

Saw it last night and LOVED it! Rosamund Pike blew me away! I know it's early but I would be shocked if she didn't AT LEAST get an Oscar nom. As mentioned above, MAJOR KUDOS to whoever put together the trailer. It just barely touches upon the plot, showing pretty much nothing past the first 30 or 40 minutes, and the movie is 2 and a half hours long. THAT is what ALL trailers should do! Also surprised at how many good laughs were in it considering the overall tone of the film, and not stupid cliché Hollywood laughs either. I'd give is a solid A.

I really dug this. I went expecting a Se7en/Zodiac-style thriller, but mainly went because of Fincher, even though I wasn't really in the mood for something that grim. So I absolutely loved the wicked satire loaded inside what could've been the body of a schlocky Lifetime movie.

I think the mugging-subplot is there so that we're given time to both learn what the "real" Amy is like (as opposed to the idealized version we spend half the film with in her diary entries), as well as starting to experience her side of what's going on in order to empathize with her to a certain degree.

When I know I'm going to see a movie, I try to avoid hearing anything about it in advance. Fincher could direct three hours of a fat guy scratching his balls and I'd still go, so "Gone Girl" was automatic for me.

I did see the trailer but I attempted to avoid reviews. However, I accidentally glimpsed the synopsis review in the Washington Post and saw Ann Hornaday gave it 2 stars, so that made me more pessimistic - though not as pessimistic as I might've been had someone else reviewed the film, as I don't think much of Hornaday as a critic.

Saw the movie today. Lesson reinforced: trust Fincher, pay no attention to Ann Hornaday.

"GG" reminds me of "Social Network" in that the film probably shouldn't work but it does, though for opposite reasons. "SN" should've been dull as paint drying - seriously, who ever thought a movie about the creation of FACEBOOK would be so fascinating?On the other hand, "GG" gives us all sorts of drama, tension and intrigue, but it probably should've flopped because it hit on such well-worn territory. In the wrong hands, it becomes predictable/trite at best and sappy Lifetime Channel material at worst.

That's why Fincher continues to prove he's about the best there is out there these days. He takes the potentially stale material and makes it soar. No way this movie felt like it ran 2.5 hours - and it could've gone another hour and I'd have been fine with it. The movie kept me with all its twists and turns and was continually entertaining.

Not Fincher's best ever - sorry, nothing will ever top "Se7en" - but very good!

Colin Jacobson said:

Not Fincher's best ever - sorry, nothing will ever top "Se7en" - but very good!

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What about Alien 3? Tough call but my favorite Fincher movie is Zodiac but a case could easily be made for Seven, Fight Club or The Social Network.

I just got back from seeing this, I thoroughly enjoyed it despite the women sitting behind me who occasionally talked during the movie.

Wayne_j said:

I just got back from seeing this, I thoroughly enjoyed it despite the women sitting behind me who occasionally talked during the movie.

Spoiler

I found a big problem with Amy's original plan, there is no way thatforensics wouldn't noticed that she died 2 months after she was supposed tohave.

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I was thinking the same thing but

joshEH said:

This film is going to do for dating what Jaws did for swimming in the ocean.

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Could that be a bit of a spoiler?

Aaron Silverman said:

Could that be a bit of a spoiler?

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I'm very sensitive to spoilers and I would say that is NOT a spoiler.

Aaron Silverman said:

Could that be a bit of a spoiler?

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No, it' not.

I also saw this today and it was great.

I have to add that I had guessed correctly the twist. People really should stop saying there is a twist!
This is a rant that I wanted to do for a long time. They say we are not spoiling this for you but there is a big twist!
Jeez that in itself is a spoiler. We are not stupid, the moment they say there is a twist, you can guess it during the movie.
Mentioning that there is a twist should be banned from all reviews. The same thing happened to me with The Sixth Sense!

Question, I read that

This was the first time Ben Affleck had done full frontal nudity on screen.

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Where?!! Not that I'm interested but I didn't see any!

SamT said:

Question, I read that
Where?!! Not that I'm interested but I didn't see any!

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You can kinda see his weiner when he gets in the shower with her but the camera is panning and it's in profile so it's not like you can see enough that you can laugh at (or be impressed by) his manhood.

Can anyone comment with a book to film comparison?

Sorry, I haven't read the book.