Gone Baby Gone

Day 169 - 6/18/09 - Movie #168

BEFORE: I'm intentionally going in to this one not knowing too much about it, other than it's about a child abduction, and got great reviews in 2007.

I solved a small mystery of my own yesterday - I figured out where the little store that's selling DVDs for $5.99 is getting their stock. I found out last week that the big Virgin Megastore in Times Square closed about a month ago, and I had a feeling that this tiny store, DVD Funhouse, opened up shortly after that. Sure enough, when I went there yesterday (picked up 5 more DVDs), they were using plastic bags with the Virgin logo. The clerk confirmed that they've burned through most of Virgin's stock and now have another supplier - but I'm just glad to learn that I haven't been buying bootlegs or stolen merch...

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

AFTER: First off, let me say that the abduction of a child is a horrible, horrible thing. You can pinpoint the when and the where, but almost certainly once you start to learn about the who, what and why, you're probably not going to like what you find out.

But this movie is more concerned with the ripple effect - how does this affect the parents, the cops, the entire city? Casey Affleck plays a P.I., the only person who is able to work with both the cops and the criminal element of South Boston. Southie seems to be filled with alcoholics, drug dealers and pimps (and those are the nice neighborhoods...) but this feels authentic somehow. More so than "The Departed", say - so much that I'll probably be tawkin' with my Bah-ston accent tomorrow, and heading down to the packie to get some scratch-ahffs.

A word about Boston accents as seen on film - either an actor can do it right, or they shouldn't even try. When it's done wrong, it pisses me off, but when it's done right, it wahms my haht. (I grew up about 1/2 hour drive from the Boston city limits) Most of the actors here do a fantastic job with it - (easy-peasy for Casey Affleck, probably more difficult for Amy Madigan) but look at a film like "The Departed" - Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg have it down, but Martin Sheen's accent is more Brooklyn than Brookline. (It should be pronounced "cahp", not "coh-uu-ohp") What, is he fekkin' re-TAH-ded or somethin'?

The child abduction turns out to be the tip of a very dirty iceberg, and (without giving anything away) the movie sets up the most difficult moral dilemma imaginable, raises a bunch of questions, and then proves there are no easy answers. I didn't think much of Casey Affleck's acting chops - until now. Great supporting work by Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman, and "Hey, it's That Guy!" mainstay John Ashton (from "Midnight Run" and "Beverly Hills Cop")

The only quibble - this can't be taken as a symbolic representation of ALL child abduction cases. That would be a more difficult movie to make, indeed.

RATING: 7 out of 10 Cuttys (and a tall-boy)