''Gone Baby Gone'' is a 2007 American
crime
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in C ...
thriller film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...
directed by
Ben Affleck
Benjamin Géza Affleck (born August 15, 1972) is an American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Volpi Cup.
Affleck began his career as a child when he starred in the PBS education ...
, in his directorial debut. Affleck co-wrote the screenplay with Aaron Stockard based on the
1998 novel of the same name by
Dennis Lehane. The film stars
Casey Affleck
Caleb Casey McGuire Affleck-Boldt (born August 12, 1975) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Satellite Award. He ...
and
Michelle Monaghan
Michelle Lynn Monaghan ( ; born March 23, 1976) is an American actress, best known for her starring roles in ''Kiss Kiss Bang Bang'' (2005), '' Gone Baby Gone'' (2007), '' Made of Honor'' (2008), '' Eagle Eye'' (2008), '' Trucker'' (2008), ''Sou ...
as two Boston private investigators hunting for a young girl abducted from her single mother's apartment in
Dorchester. The supporting cast includes
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, director, and narrator. He is known for his distinctive deep voice and various roles in a wide variety of film genres. Throughout his career spanning over five decades, he has received ...
,
Ed Harris
Edward Allen Harris (born November 28, 1950) is an American actor and filmmaker. His performances in ''Apollo 13'' (1995), ''The Truman Show'' (1998), ''Pollock'' (2000), and '' The Hours'' (2002) earned him critical acclaim and Academy Award n ...
, and
Amy Ryan
Amy Beth Dziewiontkowski, known professionally as Amy Ryan, is an American actress of stage and screen. A graduate of New York's High School of Performing Arts, she is an Academy Award nominee and two-time Tony Award nominee.
Ryan began her pr ...
. It was the final film to be released by
The Ladd Company
The Ladd Company was an American film production company founded by Alan Ladd Jr., Jay Kanter, and Gareth Wigan in 1979.
In 1979, the three founders were executives with 20th Century Fox; Ladd was the president. They announced their intention ...
before its closure.
Released on October 19, 2007, ''Gone Baby Gone'' was well-received by critics and grossed $34 million worldwide against a $19 million budget. Ben Affleck was lauded for his directing debut by critics, while Amy Ryan received an
Oscar
Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to:
People
* Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms.
* Oscar (Irish mythology) ...
nomination for
Best Supporting Actress.
Plot
In
Dorchester, Boston
Dorchester (colloquially referred to as Dot) is a Boston neighborhood comprising more than in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Originally, Dorchester was a separate town, founded by Puritans who emigrated in 1630 from Dorchester, ...
,
P.I. Patrick Kenzie and his partner and girlfriend Angie Gennaro witness a televised plea by Helene McCready for the return of her abducted four-year-old daughter Amanda and the girl's favorite doll, Mirabelle. Amid a media frenzy, Amanda's aunt Bea and uncle Lionel hire them to find her.
Using his connections with various criminals, Patrick discovers that Helene and her boyfriend Ray are addicts and
drug mules
A mule or courier is someone who personally smuggles contraband across a border (as opposed to sending by mail, etc.) for a smuggling organization. The organizers employ mules to reduce the risk of getting caught themselves. Methods of smuggling ...
for a local
Haitian drug lord
A drug lord, drug baron, kingpin or narcotrafficker is a high-ranking crime boss who controls a sizable network of people involved in the illegal drug trade. Such figures are often difficult to bring to justice, as they are normally not directly ...
named Cheese, and had recently stolen $130,000 from him. After discovering Ray has been murdered by Cheese's men, Patrick and Angie join
police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...
detectives
A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...
Remy Bressant and Nick Poole in a plan to find Amanda, who they assume has been taken by Cheese. Helene reveals she buried the money in Ray’s backyard and tearfully makes Patrick promise to her that he will bring Amanda home alive.
Patrick meets with Cheese and tries to negotiate the return of the stolen money in exchange for Amanda, but Cheese denies any involvement in the girl's disappearance. The following day, Captain Jack Doyle reads Patrick a telephone transcript of Cheese calling into the station to set up an exchange for Amanda. The exchange at a nearby
quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envi ...
is botched after a gunfight breaks out, and Cheese is killed. It is believed that Amanda fell in the quarry's pond and drowned; her doll is retrieved from the water by Angie and returned to Helene. Doyle, whose own daughter was killed years before, goes into early retirement following public outcry over the mishap.
Two months later, a seven-year-old boy is abducted in
Everett, and Patrick receives information that he was taken by Corwin Earle, a known
child molester
Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whethe ...
, who is living with two married
cocaine
Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...
addicts. Patrick gains entry into the house and after observing evidence of the abducted boy, returns with Remy and Nick late at night to rescue him. Before they enter the house, the woman starts shooting and fatally wounds Nick before chasing Patrick into Corwin's room. Patrick discovers the dead child and he executes Corwin as Remy arrives and kills the woman. The following evening, an intoxicated Remy tries to alleviate Patrick's guilt and confides that he once planted evidence on an abusive husband to help the man's family escape with Ray's help. Patrick recalls that Remy had originally told him that he didn't know Ray.
Following Nick's funeral, Patrick speaks to a police officer named Devin and tells him that Remy lied to him about knowing Ray. Devin tells him that Remy and Doyle knew about Cheese's stolen money before Cheese even knew it was missing. Patrick goads Lionel into meeting him in a bar and pieces together that Lionel and Remy had conspired to stage a fake kidnapping in order to take the drug money for themselves and to teach Helene a lesson, which Lionel finally admits. Remy enters the bar wearing a mask, staging a robbery to interrupt their conversation. Patrick realizes that Remy plans to kill them so he yells aloud that Remy kidnapped Amanda. The bartender shoots Remy twice in the back. Remy flees, pursued by Patrick to the rooftop of a nearby building, where he dies from his wounds.
Patrick is questioned by the police and realizes Doyle is involved when he learns that the police don't use phone transcripts. Arriving at Doyle's home, Patrick and Angie find Amanda alive and well. Doyle admits he was part of the kidnapping and helped set up the fake exchange to frame Cheese. Patrick threatens to call the authorities, but Doyle tries to convince him that Amanda will have a better life with him instead of with her neglectful mother. Patrick discusses the choice with Angie who says she will hate Patrick if he returns Amanda to her mother. However, Patrick calls the police to collect Amanda, as he cannot bring himself to break his promise to Helene and believes she belongs with her mother, regardless of Helene's parenting. Doyle and Lionel are arrested, and Patrick and Angie break up.
Patrick later visits Helene as she is preparing for a date. He learns that she has not made appropriate plans for a babysitter so he volunteers to watch Amanda. After Helene leaves, Patrick sits down and asks Amanda about her doll Mirabelle, but Amanda says the doll's name is Anabelle. Patrick sits in silence, realizing Helene did not even know the name of her daughter's favorite doll, realizing that he might have made a mistake by bringing her back in that toxic household.
Cast
![AffleckDirectingGBG06 - Crop](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/AffleckDirectingGBG06_-_Crop.jpg)
*
Casey Affleck
Caleb Casey McGuire Affleck-Boldt (born August 12, 1975) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Satellite Award. He ...
as Patrick Kenzie
*
Michelle Monaghan
Michelle Lynn Monaghan ( ; born March 23, 1976) is an American actress, best known for her starring roles in ''Kiss Kiss Bang Bang'' (2005), '' Gone Baby Gone'' (2007), '' Made of Honor'' (2008), '' Eagle Eye'' (2008), '' Trucker'' (2008), ''Sou ...
as Angie Gennaro
*
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, director, and narrator. He is known for his distinctive deep voice and various roles in a wide variety of film genres. Throughout his career spanning over five decades, he has received ...
as Captain Jack Doyle
*
Ed Harris
Edward Allen Harris (born November 28, 1950) is an American actor and filmmaker. His performances in ''Apollo 13'' (1995), ''The Truman Show'' (1998), ''Pollock'' (2000), and '' The Hours'' (2002) earned him critical acclaim and Academy Award n ...
as Detective Sergeant Remy Bressant
*
John Ashton John Ashton may refer to:
Entertainment
* John Ashton (composer) (1830–1896), Welsh musician
* Will Ashton (John William Ashton, 1881–1963), British-Australian artist and art director
* John Rowland Ashton (1917–2008), English author
* John ...
as Detective Nick Poole
*
Amy Ryan
Amy Beth Dziewiontkowski, known professionally as Amy Ryan, is an American actress of stage and screen. A graduate of New York's High School of Performing Arts, she is an Academy Award nominee and two-time Tony Award nominee.
Ryan began her pr ...
as Helene McCready
* Madeline O'Brien as Amanda McCready
*
Amy Madigan
Amy Marie Madigan (born September 11, 1950) is an American actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1985 film '' Twice in a Lifetime''. Her other film credits include '' Love Child'' (1982), ''Places ...
as Beatrice "Bea" McCready
*
Titus Welliver
Titus B. Welliver (born March 12, 1962) is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayals of the Man in Black in ''Lost'', Silas Adams in '' Deadwood'', Jimmy O’Phelan in ''Sons of Anarchy'', and the title role in the television seri ...
as Lionel McCready
*
Slaine as Bubba Rogowski
*
Edi Gathegi
Edi Mūe Gathegi (born March 10, 1979) is a Kenyan-American actor. He appeared as recurring character Dr. Jeffrey Cole (aka "Big Love") in the television series '' House'', as Cheese in the 2007 film ''Gone Baby Gone'', Laurent in the films ''Twi ...
as Cheese
*
Matthew Maher as Corwin Earle
*
Mark Margolis
Mark Margolis (; born November 26, 1939) is an American actor. He is known for playing Alberto "The Shadow" in '' Scarface'', Antonio Nappa in '' Oz'', and Hector Salamanca in '' Breaking Bad'' and ''Better Call Saul''. His performance in ''Break ...
as Leon Trett
*
Michael K. Williams
Michael Kenneth Williams (November 22, 1966 – September 6, 2021) was an American actor. He rose to fame in 2002 through his critically acclaimed role as Omar Little on the HBO drama series ''The Wire''. He has been described as a "singular pr ...
as Devin Amronklin
Production
Filming took place on site in Boston (mainly
South Boston
South Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. South Boston, colloquially known as Southie, has undergone several demographic transformati ...
) and extras were often local passers-by. Other locations used include the former
Quincy Quarries
The Quincy Quarries in Quincy, Massachusetts, produced granite for over a century and were the site of the Granite Railway—often credited as being the first railroad in the United States. A section of the former quarries is owned and operated ...
.
Release
Released on October 19, 2007, the film grossed $20.3 million in the U.S. and Canada and $14.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $34.6 million against its $19 million budget.
The UK release was originally set for December 28, 2007, but was pushed back to June 6, 2008, due to the
disappearance of Madeleine McCann
Madeleine Beth McCann (born 12 May 2003) is a British missing person who disappeared from her bed in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on the evening of 3 May 2007, at the age of 3. '' The Daily Telegraph'' described the disappear ...
. The
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
n release was originally set for September 20, 2007, but was postponed to March 27, 2008, due to the
kidnapping and murder of eight-year-old Nurin Jazlin.
Reception
Critical response
Review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
reports that 95% of 182 critics gave the film positive reviews, with an average rating of 7.80/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "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."
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
assigned the film an average score of 72 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Peter Travers
Peter Joseph Travers (born ) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film interview prog ...
of ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' raved "The brothers Affleck both emerge triumphant in this mesmerizing thriller," while the ''
New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established ...
'' called it "a twisty, morally ambiguous and satisfying
neo-noir
Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...
." Patrick Radden Keefe criticized the film for overstating the case in an otherwise laudable attempt to "capture Boston in all its sordid glory," writing that "The result is not so much what ''
Mean Streets
''Mean Streets'' is a 1973 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese and co-written by Scorsese and Mardik Martin. The film stars Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro. It was released by Warner Bros. on October 2, 1973. De Niro won the National ...
'' did for
New York as what ''
Deliverance
''Deliverance'' is a 1972 American survival thriller film produced and directed by John Boorman, and starring Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, and Ronny Cox, with the latter two making their feature film debuts. The screenplay was adapt ...
'' did for
Appalachia
Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ca ...
."
Ryan's performance in particular was singled out for acclaim, resulting in wins for the
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress and
National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress
The National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress is one of the annual film awards given (since 1954) by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.
Winners
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
Mult ...
, as well as nominations for the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award.
In an issue of ''
Vrij Nederland
''Vrij Nederland'' (Free Netherlands) is a Dutch magazine, established during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II as an underground newspaper. It has since grown into a magazine. The originally weekly and now monthly magazi ...
'',
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
critic and writer
Arnon Grunberg
Arnon Yasha Yves Grunberg (; born 22 February 1971) is a Dutch writer of novels, essays, and columns, as well as a journalist. He published some of his work under the heteronym Marek van der Jagt. He lives in New York. His work has been transla ...
called the book good, but the movie better, saying "''Gone Baby Gone'' might not be a perfect film, but it's definitely an important one, if only to raise the question: 'What is home?'"
Top 10 lists
The film appeared on 65 critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007.
* 2nd – Christy Lemire,
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
* 4th –
Ben Lyons
Ben Lyons (born October 8, 1981) is an American entertainment reporter and sportscaster. He is the co-host of Bonjour Sports Talk on Amazon Prime Video Sports Talk.
Early life
Lyons is the son of entertainment reporter Jeffrey Lyons and the g ...
, ''
The Daily 10
''The Daily 10'' (also known as ''The D10'') is an American daily television entertainment news show that aired on cable channel E! from March 2006 to October 2010. Hosts count down the top ten entertainment news stories of the day.
Segments
In ...
''
* 6th –
Richard Roeper
Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American columnist and film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times''. He co-hosted the television series '' At the Movies'' with Roger Ebert from 2000 to 2008, serving as the late Gene Siskel's success ...
, ''
At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper
''At the Movies'' (originally ''Siskel & Ebert & the Movies'', and later ''At the Movies with Ebert and Roeper'') is an American movie review television program produced by Disney–ABC Domestic Television in which two film critics share the ...
''
* 6th –
Michael Medved
Michael Saul Medved (born October 3, 1948) is an American radio show host, author, political commentator, and film critic. His talk show, ''The Michael Medved Show'', is syndicated from his home station KTTH in Seattle. It is syndicated via G ...
, ''The Best and Worst of 2007''
* 7th – James Berardinelli, ReelViews
* 8th – Noel Murray, ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
''
* 9th – Keith Phipps, ''The A.V. Club''
Awards and nominations
Home media
The film was released on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
and
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
on February 12, 2008. Extras include an
audio commentary
An audio commentary is an additional audio track, usually digital, consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with a video. Commentaries can be serious or entertaining in nature, and can add informatio ...
by Ben Affleck and Aaron Stockard,
deleted scene
A deleted scene is footage that has been removed from the final version of a film or television show. There are various reasons why these scenes are deleted, which include time constraints, relevance, quality or a dropped story thread. A similar o ...
s, and two behind-the-scenes featurettes. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
on September 10, 2008, in which the ending depicts Monaghan's character imploring Affleck's character to return the child to her biological mother.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack to ''Gone Baby Gone'' was released on October 16, 2007.
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gone Baby Gone
2007 films
2007 crime drama films
2000s mystery thriller films
2007 psychological thriller films
American crime drama films
American mystery thriller films
2000s English-language films
Films directed by Ben Affleck
American detective films
Films with screenplays by Ben Affleck
Films set in Boston
Films about child abduction in the United States
Films about children
Films about drugs
Films about grieving
Films about missing people
Films based on American novels
Films based on crime novels
Films set in Massachusetts
Films shot in Boston
Films shot in Massachusetts
American neo-noir films
Miramax films
The Ladd Company films
Films scored by Harry Gregson-Williams
Films based on works by Dennis Lehane
Fictional portrayals of the Boston Police Department
2007 directorial debut films
2000s American films