Gone Baby Gone

Ben Affleck may not have made the wisest acting choices in recent years (Gigli anyone?), but here, in an impressive directorial debut, he proves he definitely has what it takes for a career behind the camera. Gone Baby Gone—set in the kind of tough Massachusetts neighborhood Boston native Affleck and author of the original novel Dennis Lehane know so well—is the story of the strange abduction of a 4-year-old girl and the agonizing efforts by a team of private investigators (Ben's brother Casey and Michelle Monaghan) to find her and bring her kidnapper to justice. At first the personally involved pair is very reluctant to take on the assignment, but after the girl's aunt (Amy Madigan) begs the two P.I.'s to change their minds, their lives are altered forever. Thrown into the mix is the girl's single mother (a terrific Amy Ryan), whose associations don't exactly qualify her as parent of the year. An investigation by the police, lead by Morgan Freeman, doesn't get very far until Freeman agrees to let our P.I.'s join in with a couple of cops on the case (Ed Harris, John Ashton). Soon it appears the mystery is solved when drug money and a motive are discovered and the girl is presumed dead. Beware, not all is what it appears to be, and it becomes an obsession for Casey, who just can't let go. The acting is superb, and the gritty underground Boston atmosphere is perfectly captured, making this a good bet for moviegoers with a taste for Lehane's other recent movie transfer, Mystic River, as well as last year's Best Picture winner, The Departed.