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Gone Baby Gone

Gone Baby Gone (2007)

tomatometer

94

Average Rating: 7.7/10
Reviews Counted: 170
Fresh: 160 | Rotten: 10

Ben Affleck proves his directing credentials in this gripping dramatic thriller, drawing strong performances from the excellent cast and bringing working-class Boston to the screen.

92

Average Rating: 7.4/10
Critic Reviews: 36
Fresh: 33 | Rotten: 3

Ben Affleck proves his directing credentials in this gripping dramatic thriller, drawing strong performances from the excellent cast and bringing working-class Boston to the screen.

audience

84

liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 185,197

My Rating

Movie Info

Ben Affleck's adaptation of Dennis Lehane's novel Gone, Baby, Gone stars Casey Affleck as Patrick Kenzie, a private investigator from working-class Boston who takes on a case involving a kidnapped girl. The girl's aunt begs Patrick to take the case because he has connections to criminal Boston that the police do not. He agrees and along with his partner, Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan), they uncover a web of corruption that threatens the relationship between the two. Ed Harris and Morgan

R, 1 hr. 55 min.

Mystery & Suspense, Drama

Ben Affleck, Aaron Stockard

Feb 13, 2008

$20.3M

Miramax

All Critics (170) | Top Critics (36) | Fresh (168) | Rotten (10) | DVD (15)

Gone Baby Gone is an argument for obligation over accommodation, the absolute over the contingent.

September 18, 2008 Full Review Source: New Republic | Comment
New Republic
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Mr. Affleck is laying the foundation, brick by brick, for a promising new career.

October 24, 2007 Comment
New York Observer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Ben directs Casey in Gone Baby Gone, and it's a career highlight for both of them.

October 22, 2007 Comment
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The unconvincing genre conventions in Gone Baby Gone are at odds with its authentic, lived-in atmosphere, but no one can say that Affleck hasn't looked into the depths, and the movie ends on a resonantly ambiguous note.

October 22, 2007 Full Review Source: New Yorker | Comment
New Yorker
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Casey's big brother has made a tough, taut mystery.

October 22, 2007 Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | Comment
Philadelphia Inquirer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Bravo to Ben Affleck for a smart choice and impressive work.

October 19, 2007 Full Review Source: USA Today | Comment
USA Today
Top Critic IconTop Critic

As an actor, Ben Affleck might be a supporting player trapped in a leading man's body, but as a filmmaker he's an auspicious talent.

July 14, 2011 Full Review Source: Digital Spy | Comment
Digital Spy

A truly stellar directorial debut by Ben Affleck.

April 5, 2011 Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | Comment
Dark Horizons

Because it mostly succeeds, now that [Affleck's] got this and that good under-seen performance in Hollywoodland under his belt, he can hold his head high again.

April 4, 2011 Full Review Source: Movies.com | Comment
Movies.com

A tense meditation on morality in the modern world, Gone Baby Gone is a superb crime thriller featuring a star performance from Casey Affleck. If crime drama is your thing, it really doesn't get much better than this.

March 22, 2011 Full Review Source: ComingSoon.net | Comment
ComingSoon.net

The Affleck boys finally earn their stripes as cinematic artists

August 27, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion | Comment
CinePassion

One of the best movies of 2007.

August 3, 2009 Full Review Source: 3BlackChicks Review | Comment
3BlackChicks Review

Affleck proved that his Good Will Hunting moment wasn't an aberration, and he also showed that he didn't need Matt Damon in tow to make a great movie.

August 18, 2008 Full Review Source: 7M Pictures | Comment
7M Pictures

After seeing Affleck's directorial debut Gone Baby Gone, I can honestly say that he has finally found his true calling in Hollywood.

July 22, 2008 Full Review Source: Watertown Daily Times | Comment
Watertown Daily Times

Great job, everyone! The ride overall is solid and gripping, and very enjoyable despite the glimpses at the horrors of which the human animal is capable.

July 17, 2008 Full Review Source: Cinerina | Comment

Back, baby, back. An excellent police procedural and a personal triumph for Ben Affleck, steering his younger brother to a performance that deserved louder applause from gong juries.

June 6, 2008 Full Review Source: Total Film | Comment
Total Film

A powerful, provocative and excellently acted thriller that could literally have been torn from today's headlines.

June 6, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

Flawed but impressive.

June 5, 2008 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

A superior, haunting thriller of abduction, deception and ethical dilemma with a sobering ending - a moral quandary that demands strong debate outside the cinema.

June 5, 2008 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | Comment (1)
Empire Magazine

An unusually patient approach to storytelling sets Ben Affleck's directorial debut apart, as he allows events to unfurl gradually.

June 1, 2008 Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | Comment
Shadows on the Wall
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Gone Baby Gone

Ben Affleck's directional debut is a close look at the dark side of Boston, thematically related to Lehane's other novel Mystic River, which offered a similarly pessimistic outlook on crime, white trash and the moral compass of the city. Here, a hunt for a vanished girl, turns out to be much more complicated and

October 20, 2007
ironclad1609

Super Reviewer

Gone Baby Gone is a gripping thriller with a terrific cast and amazing working class Boston atmosphere. Ben Affleck reveals directing talent to burn, and his brother Casey in the lead is effective, but doesn't have enormous presence as a movie lead. Dennis Lehane's source novel shows the working class Boston From

December 5, 2011
Josh Morris

Super Reviewer

    1. Remy Bressant: Kids forgive, they don't judge, they turn the other cheek, and what do they get for it?
    – Submitted by Orin G (2 months ago)
    1. Angie Gennaro: Patrick if you do this, I will hate you. And I don't want to.
    – Submitted by Justin K (8 months ago)
    1. Patrick Kenzie: He lied to me. Now I can't think of one reason big enough for him to lie about that's small enough not to matter.
    – Submitted by Chris P (13 months ago)
    1. Patrick Kenzie: Cheese, if you ever disrespect her again like that, I'm gonna pull your fuckin' card, okay? So you're saying you didn't do it, fine. We'll take your money, and we'll be on our way. When it turns out you're lying, I'm gonna spend every nickel of that money to fuck you up. I'm gonna bribe cops to go after you, I'm gonna pay guys to go after your weak fuckin' crew, and I'm gonna tell all the guys I know that you're a C.I. and a rat, and I know a lot of people. And after that, you're gonna wish you listened to me, 'cause your shitty pool hall crime syndicate headquarters is gonna get raided, and your doped-up bitches are gonna get sent back to Laos, and this fuckin' retard right here is gonna be testifying against you for a reduced sentence, while you're gettin' cornholed in your cell by a gang of crackers. 'Cause from what I've heard, the guys that get sent up Concord for killing kids, life's a motherfucker.
    – Submitted by Chris P (13 months ago)

Latest News for Gone Baby Gone

June 4, 2008:
RT Interview: Ben Affleck Goes After the Critics for a Change
The actor-turned-director on Gone Baby Gone, his relationship with reviewers and, erm, his favourite...

February 11, 2008:
RT on DVD: The Brothers Affleck Lead the Pack With Gone Baby Gone
One of the best films of last year comes to DVD this week (Gone Baby Gone, written and directed by...

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