My thoughts on “Gone Girl” 

Unless you have been under a rock, you have probably heard about the movie “Gone Girl”. Every critic and their mama have been raving about it. I am one of those who read the book written by Gillian Flynn (who also wrote the screenplay) and I loved the book. I thought it was very original, with a very well written out plot with unexpected twists that didn’t seem like they were just thrown in there for shock value. When casting news was revealed and Ben Affleck was announced as lead actor, I love me some Affleck so I knew I was in and I just had to see it.

The movie is about Nick and Amy Dunne (Ben Affleck and Brit actress, Rosamund Pike) and the disintegration of their lives and relationship from when they met, to their 5th wedding anniversary. The Dunnes are forced to relocate to Nick’s hometown in Missouri from New York when Nick loses his job and his mother is in poor health. The movie truly begins when Nick comes home on their 5th anniversary and notices his wife is missing. The whirlwind of drama, media frenzy and revelations make up the storyline of the movie.

This was a great movie. David Fincher really put his foot in this one. Every scene, every shot was necessary and very well done. I always accept that I may be biased but I never understand the uproar whenever Ben Affleck is cast in a role. He was really great in this and conveyed exactly what the Nick character was supposed to be. I was a little apprehensive about Rosamund Pike’s casting, only because I am going through this phase of exasperation where Hollywood feels the need to cast British actors and we have to suffer through their inconsistent accents. Rosamund had a few moments of this but it was easy to overlook because I can’t describe to you the way she nailed the icy-cool demeanor of Amy Dunne. Can I just say for those of you that watch Revenge the tv show, at a certain point wasn’t she just a doppelganger for Emily Van Camp who plays Emily Thorne on the show?

I always rave about the importance of casting in a movie and once again it was an advantage here. There was a good balance between high profile actors and character actors. Most of the actors were recognizable names. The most high profile were Ben Affleck, Neil Patrick Harris (who continues to prove that a gay man can play a straight man role well) and Tyler Perry (who was pretty good). The rest were actors you can recognize from certain roles but aren’t big time names. The good thing was you forgot who these people were and were completely absorbed in their roles.

Like I mentioned earlier, what I didn’t like about the book was the end, so I was excited when I heard some reviews say the ending was changed. If you read the book and unless my memory is messing with me, I think it stayed the same and I was a little disappointed by that. Also, there was mention of frontal nudity by Ben and I must have missed that too, humph! All in all, it was an enjoyable psychological, suspenseful thriller and I would recommend it.

Some fun facts:

– Gillian Flynn who wrote the book started out as an assistant on Entertainment Weekly and now has her novel made into a movie. Love stories like that.

– The movie was produced by Reese Witherspoon who optioned the rights and was going to play Amy before deciding it wasn’t a good idea – which I whole heartedly agree with. Like I mentioned earlier, it would have ruined the balance between high profile names and lesser known names – well unless, the main actor would have been lesser known.

*picture from google images