As someone who has never cared for the films of David Fincher — I find him smug, arrogant and achingly hip — I approached his latest, Gone Girl, with more than a little trepidation. To my surprise, I was as close as I suspect I will ever be to being blown away by a Fincher film — and yet it has everything I don’t like about him written all over it. But those are the very things that make Fincher a perfect match for this deeply cynical, even misanthropic and bitterly funny movie. I freely admit I felt like I needed a shower after seeing it, but I can’t deny I was wholly entertained for the film’s nearly two-and-a-half-hour running time. If I feel a little guilty about that, so be it.
The film is based on a wildly popular novel (that I haven’t read and am not likely to read) by Gillian Flynn, who also wrote the apparently pretty faithful screenplay. It is certainly a twisty tale. It starts out as one thing, turns into something else and then turns into quite another thing altogether. Whether it is the story itself or Fincher’s amazingly precise handling of it, I don’t know, but somehow the shifts flow smoothly and never jar — at least, they never jar more than they’re meant to and always feel like part of the whole fabric of the film. Now, owing to the nature of the story — and its twists — it is not an easy film to write about, though I suspect most viewers know at least the major surprise. However, I’m going to attempt to avoid saying too much.
The story focuses on Nick (Ben Affleck) and Amy Dunne (a revelatory Rosamund Pike), a couple married five years whose relationship has soured since a reversal of fortune that has sent them back to his Missouri hometown. When she disappears — with evidence of violence — on the day of their fifth anniversary, the police are called in. While no one immediately suspects Nick of foul play, his behavior — much of which is grounded in the fact that he doesn’t seem emotional enough — soon causes people to begin to have their suspicions about him. It isn’t long before public opinion starts turning against him, and the more the police discover, the more Nick appears a pretty good bet for a murderer. Soon he’s being vilified on TV by Nancy Grace clone Ellen Abbott (Missi Pyle in the role she was made for) and weighed in on by superstar defense attorney Tanner Bolt (an astonishingly good Tyler Perry). Indeed, it’s no time at all before Nick has engaged Bolt’s services — something that comes as no surprise to the lawyer.
All of this is the tip of the iceberg as far as the story is concerned, since it’s going places we can barely guess at. What is most astounding in all this is the way the film misleads us without — on examination — actually misleading us. Everything we see and learn is essentially true. What we’re thrown by is the film’s never-specified timeline. What truly astounds, however, is the film’s attention to detail — something that starts with the shrewd casting of Ben Affleck in the lead, since even when Affleck is sincere, he doesn’t really seem like it. Then, look at the seemingly random business of having him and his sister (TV actress Carrie Coon) collect vintage board games, but all of the names of these games — Mastermind, Clue, Sorry, Life — are relevant to the story, most pointedly when they’re playing Life, and Nick remarks that he can’t remember the point of the game. The film is full of seemingly tossed off moments like these. The truth is — nothing is tossed off.
You may want to skip this final paragraph until you’ve seen the film, since it gets close to spoiler territory. When all is said and done, Gone Girl is a blistering satire and indictment of media manipulation of the public and the gullibility of that same public. It also takes the whole idealized concept of marriage to a point where Nick and Amy are something like the modern equivalent of George and Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? — a thoroughly toxic couple who may just deserve each other. Tyler Perry’s character has the best summation of this — “You are the two most fucked-up people I know, and I specialize in fucked-up.” Rated R for a scene of bloody violence, some strong sexual content/nudity and language.
Great film. I must say I’m surprised you like it. As great as it is it’s not the best Fincher film.
Yeah, it is.
Well I can’t say I expected this reaction.
It has stayed with me in ways I didn’t expect, but I can’t say I’m very enthusiastic about it. I don’t hate it like I do The Game, but I don’t love it like I do Zodiac.
But remember, I don’t like Zodiac.
Funny, this movie would be a great companion piece with The Game. This is like the female version of that great overlooked movie.
The Game I have never seen. Interestingly, going in I encountered a fellow critic, who told me I would love this. I pointed out to him that I was skeptical, since I had never seen a Fincher film I had even liked. He countered by saying that neither had he — then added “except for The Game.
I remember The Game just being okay: entertaining enough while it was up on the screen but without much depth and immediately forgettable.
I think THE GAME is pretty great for most of its running time, but I do not buy the ending one bit.
The ending is what places the film at the very bottom of the barrel for me.
I know absolutely nothing about it.
I don’t see what’s not to like in Fincher. The man is a craftsmen in telling a story through film and using all the tools possible to do so. No, he is not Scorsese or Kirosawa but pretty damn good.
I find him smug and arrogant in his filmmaking and his worldview as expressed in those films. I have an almost viscerally negative reaction to most of his films, and am completely mystified by the way people are surprised by the “twists” in them.
What is smug about his filmmaking? You think hes too showy?
Too showy? Good Lord, no. That’s got nothing to do with it. Smug means…smug, self-satisfied, full of himself as the coolest, hippest person there is.
I don’t see how you get that he is ” the coolest, hippest person there is” from watching one of his films.
I couldn’t get past the problems the film had with the third act, but over all I had fun.
The “problems” with the “third act” are what make the film. Otherwise, it’s just another neo-noir.
The third act redeems the problems I had with the first act – namely Pike’s cold, airy vocal inflections.
Those were humorous though, the film got less and less funny as it went along I thought.
The audience I saw it with clearly disagree with the idea that it gets less funny. I was actually surprised at how much laughter some of the bitterest aspects of the film generated.
Not talking about the ending, thats what makes the film pretty great. I couldn’t get past that the whole time they were searching for a killer, and then when it turns out SPOILER she is the one that actually kills somebody they let her go so easily. Also, Neil Patrick Harris was a little too conveniently rich.
To me, you’re missing the point. Also, why is it convenient that NPH is rich? How does that enter in to anything. Rich boys are who someone in her position would have grown up with.
It’s convenient because just as she’s out of money, she just happens to have a super rich ex stalker.
I don’t see how you get that he is ” the coolest, hippest person there is” from watching one of his films.
If you can’t, you can’t. It’s the vibe I get. I also get it from just looking at him.
I enjoyed it from beginning to end, especially the end. I thought Rosamund gave an inspired Oscar worthy performance. If I were in Afflecks’ pIace by the end I would have barricaded myself in my sister’s house (or better, somewhere in Alaska) and kept a 12 gauge handy. It couldn’t have ended better though, And I thought Tyler Perry had the very best line in the film. “You two are the most f***ed up people I have ever seen.”
I agree totally on the satire on the media. I thought that the most effective part of the film. It’s something I’ve been aware of for years and never ever watch any of those stupid cable shows, or the TV news, Ever. I was very happy to see what I’ve felt about the media so well depicted.
So much nitpicking, I don’t care about Fincher. His presence neither attracts me or repels me from seeing a film. This one was so much better than his others that I suspect that someone else had a hand in it. There are a lot worse Directors out there though. Malick for starters. Plus, there’s no shortage of egoists. Fincher isn’t even close to Cameron. Not even in the same universe.
Some of the trailers looked interesting. I have hopes for Interstellar. And that remake of The Ten Commandments looks to be either really good or hilariously bad. Was Bale channeling Heston? Either way it looks promising too. That one that’s due on Valentine’s Day (I forgot the name) you might want to pass off to Justin.
In my position, no director can be a deal breaker for me, which may or may not be a bad thing. I wouldn’t argue about there being worse directors than Fincher and no shortage of egoists (something Cameron shouldn’t be, but he’s unware of that), Yet Fincher normally sets my teeth on edge in ways others don’t. When I see Cameron, I just think he’s absurd. When I see Malick, I just think he’s on a wavelength I don’t get. When I see Fincher, I tend to have the urge to slap him.
I am not sure why you wish to make such defamatory personal comments about these directors. It rather lets you down I fear. If anyone is at the top of the tree in any profession, then surely they have a small right to be egotistical and, whilst it is not a very attractive quality, even smug. They seem pretty committed to their work to me, which can be no bad thing. “Appearances can be deceptive” – certainly a good adage for this film (and maybe even those men?).
Well, they’re hardly personal remarks in any realistic sense, nor am I sure they can rightly be called defamatory. I’m also not sure who “these directors” are, since I was specifically talking about Fincher. Somebody else dragged in Cameron and Malick. One of whom I don’t think much of as a filmmaker, and the other I simply don’t get. This is simply my considered view of how Fincher presents himself and the vibe that I get from his work. If you’re a public figure, you open yourself to such criticisms.
We’re all hiding monsters within ourselves. In Gone Girl they’re on view. How amazing that this came out of Hollywood – is America growing up? Nick has to grow up which is why he must abandon his sister and hence her reaction. Fabulous ending. They get each other and maybe there’s hope for them. And Amy has precipitated it all.
I can’t say I see much hope there.
He hasn’t left her. He’s chosen to leave his sister.
I don’t see that being — SPOILERS AHEAD — blackmailed into staying with a sociopathic and psychopathic wife (who has used and brutally murdered an ex-lover) as a good thing. That he accepts this fate is not in the least bit hopeful to me, nor do I see that as the intent.
Ah – so you’re on his side. To my mind they’re both as bad as each other – but my whole point is that we’re actually all like that, only we pretend we’re not. Now, with those two, the pretence is gone.
Ah – so you’re on his side. To my mind they’re both as bad as each other – but my whole point is that we’re actually all like that, only we pretend we’re not. Now, with those two, the pretence is gone.
I’m not on anybody’s side. I think Tyler Perry’s character sums them up perfectly. They are both horrible people who perhaps deserve each other. So what you’re saying is that we’re all just as horrible as they are, but that they’re actually better than the rest of us because they no longer pretend that they aren’t vile human beings. Is that it? So humankind’s salvation is to accept its basic awfulness?
Okay, so THE GAME is brilliant. And Ken, I’m pretty sure you’d love it. Or maybe just *really* like it. I can see rating maybe four stars on the Hanke scale.
I fear this is one of those things that is either going to have to end up on Netflix streaming or someone is going to have to hand me a copy. The chances of me going out of my way to see The Game are slim.
One of my favorite scenes in GONE GIRL is near the end, when Affleck is locked up in his room, sitting in his chair with the cat in his lap and scared out of his damn mind. I laughed so hard.