Verdict: * * * 1/2 – –

Yesterday I watched Gone Girl where everyday suburban people were dancing  because they did something very bad to someone they loved. Then I happened to see a Wayfarer.com commercial where everyday suburban people were dancing because they bought a really nice sofa for a great price and free shipping.

One of these scenarios I could wrap my head around and the other I just squirmed and grimaced the entire time. It’s not that GG was a bad story (I never read the book but everyone tells me it was so much better). It’s that the characters in GG were complete jerks to each other and practically everyone else… and I’m supposed to be drawn in?

I had heard the premise of the story before renting the movie, so I was already kind of prepared. I went into it as if I were watching a reality show. If you go into movies from a certain point of view, in this case, Nick (Affleck) and Amy (Pike) Dunn are two affluent writers who live in NYC and move to Missouri because Nick’s mom gets sick and needs care. Amy hates Missouri. Oh, and she also hates Nick after a while because he’s such a guy. There are other reasons, and I’ll admit, but the time I saw them unfold, I friggin’ hated Nick too.

But I also hated Amy because she’s essentially a pretentious hoity toity who speaks in a very mysterious, smoky, heady voice and uses big words and walks around hating herself and her life and everything she’s attracted into it. Suddenly <BAM!> Amy goes missing, and because she’s loved worldwide for her children’s books, her disappearance becomes nationwide CNN/Fox fodder and we begin to see what happened.

The entire story is three fold: We see things from 1) his POV, 2) her POV and 3) her diary’s POV. All blended seamlessly and it moves the story along well. Now, I won’t go further because there’s a lot to reveal and even one clue would be a spoiler so I’ll shut up about what happens. I will say that if you go into this movie as if it were a horror/thriller, you’ll be horrified/thrilled. I went into it as if it were a reality show because I identified with the characters about as much as I identify with Honey Boo Boo. This made it a popcorn flick for me and, while everyone else around me gasped, I laughed every time a new twist was revealed. This movie takes itself waaaay too seriously, in my humble. Like any marriage, the marriage in this movie could have used some laughs, but that’s just me!

No one was voted off the island, but the entire movie had me shaking my head thinking “God, these two deserve each other.” and “Thank God I’m not this eff’ed up. My life is lookin’ pretty good right about now!”

Gone Girl is a bestseller that has been on the bestseller lists for 121 weeks, starting at number 7 and moving to Number 2 so it was a foregone conclusion that there would be a movie. The best adaptations in my opinion are when the original author does the screenplay, so I was pleased when Gillian Flynn wrote the screenplay. Then I was worried would they get the casting right? I am pleased to report they did,

I have always been a fan of Ben Affleck,ever since I saw him in Good Will Hunting , and everyone admits he is a good director.  I think he will be a great Batman as well. Rosamond Pike was perfectly cast as the icy blonde wife straight out of a Hitchcock movie ,and the whole movie felt distinctly Hitchcockian but with the  David Fincher touch. I have never seen a movie of his I didn’t like. Zodiac and The Social Network were masterpieces.

The supporting cast  was perfect,most notably I was surprised by how fun Tyler Perry was as  a  celebrity lawyer who was subdued but charismatic, and  Carrie Coon, who played Margo Dunne, Nick’s sister. I found her to be the most likable,

I thought Neil Patrick  Harris showed dramatic range, worlds away from his Barney Stinson character

I was on the edge of my seat the whole time and was only disappointed in 1 area, but that was in the book, so can’t blame the director.

I honestly think this will have Actor and Actress nominations for Ben Affleck and Rosamond Pike  I give it a thumbs up and  a 4 out of 5.