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 nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Plot
In Dorchester, Boston, 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, whose favorite doll is Mirabelle. Amid the media frenzy, Amanda's aunt Bea and uncle Lionel hire the detectives to find her.
Patrick and Angie meet with policedetectives Remy Bressant and Nick Poole who tell them about Corwin Earle, a known child molester who they consider a suspect. Patrick asks a criminal associate, Bubba, to look for him and also discovers that Helene and her boyfriend Ray are addicts and drug mules for local Haitiandrug lord Cheese, and had recently stolen $130,000 from him. After finding Ray has been murdered by Cheese's men, Patrick and Angie join Remy and Nick to find Amanda, whom they now believe has been taken by Cheese. Helene reveals she buried the money in Ray’s backyard and tearfully makes Patrick promise he will bring Amanda home alive.
Patrick meets with Cheese and tries to negotiate returning the stolen money in exchange for Amanda, but he denies any involvement in the girl's disappearance. The following day, Captain Jack Doyle reads Patrick a telephone transcript of Cheese calling the station to set up an exchange for the girl.
The exchange at a nearby quarry is botched after a gunfight breaks out, and Cheese is killed. It is believed that Amanda fell into the quarry's pond and drowned; Angie retrieves her doll and returns it to Helene. Doyle, whose own daughter was killed years before, goes into early retirement soon afterwards.
Two months later, a seven-year-old boy is abducted in Everett, and Patrick receives information from Bubba that Corwin Earle is living with two married cocaine addicts. The two visit the house and Patrick observes evidence of the abducted boy, so returns with Remy and Nick late at night to rescue him.
Before they can enter the house, the woman starts shooting and fatally wounds Nick before chasing Patrick into Corwin's room. He discovers the dead child, executes Corwin as Remy arrives and then kills the woman. The following evening, an intoxicated Remy tries to alleviate Patrick's guilt, confiding that he once planted evidence on an abusive husband to help the man's family escape with Ray's help. Patrick recalls that previously Remy had told him he didn't know Ray.
Following Nick's funeral, Patrick speaks to police officer Devin, telling him that Remy lied to him about knowing Ray. Devin tells him Remy and Doyle knew about Cheese's stolen money before Cheese did. Patrick goads Lionel into meeting him in a bar and pieces together that he and Remy had staged a fake kidnapping to keep 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 he plans to kill them so he yells loudly that Remy kidnapped Amanda. The bartender shoots him, he flees, pursued by Patrick, but succumbs to 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, Patrick and Angie find Amanda alive and well. He admits he was part of the kidnapping and helped set up the fake exchange to frame Cheese. When Patrick threatens to call the authorities, Doyle tries to convince him that Amanda will have a better life with him than with her neglectful mother.
Patrick discusses the choice with Angie, who says she will hate him if he returns Amanda to her mother, making the case that the girl will grow up much more safely and happily if they leave her to be raised by Doyle. However, he calls the police regardless, as he'd promised Helene and believes she belongs with her, regardless of her bad parenting. Doyle and Lionel are arrested, and Patrick and Angie break up.
Patrick later visits Helene as she is preparing for a date. Learning she has not arranged for a babysitter, he volunteers. After she leaves, Patrick sits down and asks Amanda about her doll, Mirabelle, but she says its name is Anabelle. They then sit in silence watching TV, with Patrick realizing Helene didn't even know her daughter's favorite doll's name, wondering if he had made a mistake bringing her back to this toxic household.
Cast
Ben Affleck directing on set at Meaney Park, Dorchester in May 2006
Filming took place on site in Boston (mainly South Boston) and extras were often local passers-by. Other locations used include the former Quincy Quarries.[2]
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.[1]
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 94% of 184 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."[4]Metacritic assigned the film an average score of 72 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[5]
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone raved "The brothers Affleck both emerge triumphant in this mesmerizing thriller."[6] 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 did for New York as what Deliverance did for Appalachia."[7]
In an issue of Vrij Nederland, Dutch critic and writer Arnon Grunberg 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?'"[8]
Top 10 lists
The film appeared on 65 critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2007.[9][10]
