Jack Goes Confidential: ‘Gone Girl’—Let the Punishment Fit the Crime

GONE GIRL is a terrific mystery thriller!

Think of it as a modern day Hitchcock movie as its mesmerizing storyline zig-zags through almost two and a half hours of misdirection.

Here ex-Kansas Citian Gillian Flynn adapts her own global best selling novel under the direction of David Fincher of THE SOCIAL NETWORK, PANIC ROOM, FIGHT CLUB and THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO fame.

GONE GIRL lays bare all that is—or can be modern marriage as Nick Dunne (played with perfection by Ben Affleck) on the occasion of his 5th wedding anniversary reports his wife missing.

The picture-perfect couple had moved back to North Carthage, Missouri from New York City. But it soon becomes obvious that wife Amy Dunne was never quite able to make the transition to her husband’s early stomping grounds.

So what we’ve got now is…“the real housewives of Branson.”

(And yes, that’s an actual line from the movie.)

So Amy has gone missing, and under the weight of a growing media frenzy, Nick is beginning to crumble.

DID he kill his wife?

All signs seem to point in that direction, but don’t be so sure.

Lies. Deceits. Paranoia. PREGNANCY?

A game changing labyrinth of misdirection unfolds as you now try to figure out who’s conning whom?

“Let the punishment fit the crime.”

The problem being, who REALLY is committing it?

And, “Does Missouri have the death penalty?”

A lot of plot twists and a sharp sendup to today’s media hordes—or is it whores—who no longer seem able to separate the fine line between news and infotainment.

The ongoing Nancy Grace-like coverage of events going down in the small Missouri burg is priceless.

Kudos also to Neil Patrick Harris as one of Amy’s early admirers who in the end gets more than he’d ever bargained for.

There’s Tyler Perry, smartly cast as Ben Affleck’s high profile attorney.

And Amy. She’s portrayed by British actress Rosamund Pike who should have a bright future following her stunning performance here.

It’s the perfect ‘He Said/She Said’ melodramatic thriller.

Alfred Hitchcock would’ve been proud.

But be forewarned that several scenes in the film are of the graphic, hard-R variety!

GONE GIRL opens with preview performances beginning this evening at 8:00 p.m.

Then everywhere tomorrow.

I’m scoring it a perfect A.

(Reviewed at Alamo-Mainstreet Theatre)

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