Westside Steve Posted October 16, 2014 Report Share Posted October 16, 2014 Gone Girl 20th Century Fox R. 149 min Seems like there have been a few more than usual cases of the movie versus the book on the entertainment docket recently. A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES benefited from trimming the deadwood but suffered from a new climax. THE HUNGER GAMES was able to distill a seemingly endless and decidedly repetitive book into some pretty damn good cinema. I have actually read the international bestseller GONE GIRL and found it to be one of the most annoying books I've had the displeasure to endure. Unfortunately for me the producers of the film version were able to do an accurate job of capturing that unpleasant experience to film. I was hoping that by condensing the novel to its core elements and possibly a rewrite of the embarrassingly pretentious dialogue and with the addition of a pretty good cast they might have been able to slap together an above average film. Well gang, that's not the case. It turns out that Gillian Flynn wrote the novel and the screenplay. The story is about Nick and Amy (Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike) a saccharinly attractive young couple, one or both of which may possibly be criminally insane. She is a successful author of a series of children's books inspired by the antithesis of her dysfunctional family life and he is an aspiring author embittered by his lack of success. Never agreed combination. I fear that a detailed description of the plot would ruin whatever intrigued there might be here for you so I will dance around the point. Basically, and this much is pretty well spelled out in the trailers, what had appeared to be a romance made in heaven turns out to be a morass of deceit and cruelty. Actually the film isn’t not quite as bad as the book but the problems are very similar. First of all, as I say, the dialogue it the first third, the courtship, early marriage and her mysterious disappearance portion of the film is completely unbelievable and smarmy. That makes it hard to empathize with either of the main characters. The screenplay actually sabotage is the natural charisma of Affleck and Pike. And now, out of the blue, the flick actually gets a little better as the plot takes a sharp left turn. I won't spill the beans but at least I was able to quit looking back and forth from my watch to the exit sign. Sadly in about 45 minutes that hopeful feeling fades like a mirage in the desert and we are back to the reality of bad writing incomprehensible twists and unpleasant characters. Anyway as per usual don't take my word for it. I disliked the book and barely tolerated the film but after looking at reviews (now, of course, after writing mine) see that I am once again at odds with some other members of the critical community. You might like it a lot better than I did. C'est la vie. C WSS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieHardBrownsFan Posted October 16, 2014 Report Share Posted October 16, 2014 I'll wait till its free on Cable, and turn it off if it sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalterWhite Posted October 17, 2014 Report Share Posted October 17, 2014 wait till it's free on Cable? Then you're going to miss all the good action and scenes that get censored out and be flooded with commericals. just go fucking see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westside Steve Posted October 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2014 Hopefully he's talking about watching it on one of the movie channels uncensored. Unfortunately even on a big flat panel I think you lose too much of the movie going experience. As I said other people have liked this movie and that book a lot more than I did. WSS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gipper Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 wait till it's free on Cable? Then you're going to miss all the good action and scenes that get censored out and be flooded with commericals. just go fucking see it. One critical scene does take place in the shower where you can see her butt and the side of her breast (but not the nipple). So that would get cut on regular cable probably Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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