Cast: Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, John Aston, Amy Ryan, Amy Madigan and Titus Welliver
Director: Ben Affleck
Studio Synopsis: Each day in America, 2,000 children are reported missing. The sinuously provocative, edge-of-your-seat thriller Gone Baby Gone—adapted from Dennis Lehane’s (Mystic River) best-selling novel and featuring the directorial debut of Academy Award-winner Ben Affleck—follows the explosive case of just one missing little girl. But inside this investigation lie secrets and a labyrinthine maze of class and corruption, evil and innocence...all leading up to one man’s extraordinary choice in a world where right and wrong have become blurred.
Rating: R
Running Time: 114 minutes
Official Web site: http://www.gonebabygone-themovie.com/
Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/miramax/gonebabygone/

The Verdict: Ben Affleck’s career has gone nowhere fast since his ill-fated dalliance with Jennifer Lopez. His latest effort to make us forget the public spectacle that was "Bennifer" is to try his hand at directing. And it helps that Gone Baby Gone is set in Affleck’s hometown of Boston—the working-class neighborhood of Dorchester that is as much character in this smart thriller as those embroiled in the abduction of one of a 4-year-old girl. With Gone Baby Gone, Affleck’s made his smartest since he teamed up with buddy Matt Damon to write Good Will Hunting. Based on a book by fellow Bostonian native Dennis Lehane, who also wrote Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone is an emotionally charged look at the consequences of taking the law into your own hands. There have been several films of late about street justice, including the vigilante-themed thrillers The Brave and Death Sentence, but none capture the anguish of a man living with blood on his hands in such an effective and persuasive manner as Gone Baby Gone does. Casey Affleck—yes, Ben’s younger brother—plays private investigator Patrick Kenzie, who is hired along with his girlfriend Angela Gennaro (The Heartbreak Kid’s Michelle Monaghan) to find a young girl kidnapped from her Beantown home. But when things go terribly wrong, Kenzie becomes consumed with his role in the girl’s tragic death. Months later, Kenzie learns of the whereabouts of another missing child, and decides to play judge, jury and executioner. But Kenzie can’t live with what he has done, so when his past starts to catch with him, he finds himself in a struggle between his instincts and his conscience. Unlike The Brave, though, Gone Baby Gone does not seek to endorse or glorify its protagonist’s behavior. Ben Affleck makes it clear that two wrongs do not make a right, no matter how good it may feel to blow away a murderous piece of scum. But Affleck isn’t just interested in turning Kenzie into a symbol of moral righteousness. He also wants to spark a debate as to whether doing the right thing—as Kenzie endeavors to do when Gone Baby Gone reaches its genuinely surprising twist ending—is actually the best thing to do. That’s never more evident when we’re in the company of Amy Ryan’s Helene McCready, the missing girl’s boozy, neglectful mother. Ryan’s revelatory performance will make you feel sick to your stomach—and force you to think long and hard about whether you would make the same decision Kenize makes when all is said and done. Or live with it for the rest of your life. As Kenzie, Casey Affleck offers a sympathetic portrait of a man wrestling with his personal demons. Kenzie’s moral quandary is heartbreakingly communicated in every word of regret Affleck utters and every pained look he gives. Kenzie’s judgment is further clouded by the presence of the explosive Ed Harris and the poised Morgan Freeman, whose police officers come to represent the school of thought that the law occasionally must be bent to take the sick and twisted off our streets. That said, Ben Affleck never allows anyone in Gone Baby Gone off the hook. They are held accountable for the choices they make, no matter whether they are made for good or for bad reasons. That’s what makes Gone Baby Gone far superior mediation on the principle of an eye for an eye than the exploitative Brave. It’s hard to believe Affleck would offer a more compelling film on this subject than The Brave director Neil Jordan—or that Gone Baby Gone would prove even more provocative than Clint Eastwood’s adaptation of Lehane’s Mystic River. Bearing that in mind, Affleck may want to take a long, hard look at what Eastwood’s achieved as a director and spend more time behind the cameras than in front of them.
—Robert Sims

Reviews:
EDGE Miami (B+)
Metromix South Florida (4 1/2 out of 5 stars)
The Miami Herald (3 out of 4 stars)
The Palm Beach Post (B+)
The Sun-Sentinel (3 1/2 out of 4 stars)