“Gone Girl” is a twisty mystery/thriller.
Relying on inventive plot twists and solid performances, Director David Fincher transforms the coldness that alienated some viewers with his “Dragon Tattoo” remake to deliver an impressive film that is worthy of sophisticated adult audiences. If you’re married or in a committed relationship, take a long look at your partner. Do you know who he or she is? Do you know what that person you love and adore is capable of? Do you really love and adore your partner or are you just faking it?
When Nick Dunne’s wife, Amy, disappears, he naturally calls the police. Detective Rhonda Boney arrives, and immediately, suspects that Nick (Ben Affleck) is hiding something. Boney (a really perfect Kim Dickens) is good at her job. She puts on rubber gloves and starts marking clues. But when her team finds an envelop labeled clue number 1, things begin to get strange.
Nick doesn’t help things. He’s emotionally placid and does not seem to be surprised or even worried about Amy’s disappearance. Nick might even look a little relieved that Amy (Rosamund Pike) has left his life. But did he kill her? And where’s the body?
The movie uses flashbacks to introduce us to Amy. Her parents are children’s book authors who penned a series called “Amazing Amy.” That series haunts the real Amy, who provided her parents with the original source material. And while the fictitious Amy has a wonderful life, the real world Amy struggles to find herself. Marrying Nick was supposed to fill in her gaps, but eventually, she realizes that there is still something missing–what was broken remains broken.
“Gone Girl” is taken from the best-selling novel by the same name written by Gillian Flynn, who receives sole screenplay credit here. It is her first produced screenplay according to the Internet Movie Database, and I suspect it won’t be her last. Although I’ve not read the novel, the movie really made me want to read it, even though watching the movie first might spoil the twists and turns that make the story unique and current.
Flynn populates her screenplay (and likely her novel) with characters representative of our popular culture. We get the celebrity lawyer named Tanner Bolt, played excellently by Tyler Perry. In fact, Perry is so perfectly cast that I forgot completely that he’s most famous for appearing in drag. Another character that will be familiar to television news fans is an amusing parody of Nancy Grace, played by Missi Pyle. In “Gone Girl” Pyle plays news pundit Ellen Abbott, who immediately throws Nick under the bus, ridiculing him with a stinging southern accent. The resemblance to the CNN’s Grace is unmistakable, and Pyle chews up the role. And Neil Patrick Harris is really creepy as Desi Collings, an obscenely rich ex-boyfriend of Amy, who may know more than he’s willing to reveal.
Ultimately, “Gone Girl” is a trashy guilty pleasure that’s sometimes sexy and hints at complex satire winking wickedly at today’s social media infused cult of celebrity. The film is elevated by fine performances and peerless direction. Fincher, who recently scored on the small screen with “House of Cards,” gets the tone and visuals down with exacting precision. The atmospheric story brims over with ambiguity questioning the nature of loving monogamous relationships. Viewers will be increasingly uncomfortable as the tension tightens and the twists unravel. Is your relationship based on a solid foundation? “Gone Girl” is the kind of movie that colorfully raises more questions than it answers, and in this case, that’s a good thing.