Editor Reviews:

Product Description:
Critics are calling Ben Affleck's directorial debut "mesmerizing" (Peter Travers ROLLING STONE). When two young private detectives (Casey Affleck (GOOD WILL HUNTING) and Michelle Monaghan MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III) are hired to take a closer look into the mysterious disappearance of a little girl they soon unravel a multitude of twists and turns where nothing is what it seems. Ultimately they must risk everything -- their relationship their sanity and even their lives -- in the search to find her. Casey Affleck and Morgan Freeman are electrifying and Amy Ryan (CAPOTE) delivers "a vibrant knockout performance" (Kenneth Turan LOS ANGELES TIMES) in this edge-of-your-seat crime drama. GONE BABY GONE "will have you talking long after it's over" (Christy Lemire THE ASSOCIATED PRESS).System Requirements:Running Time: 114 Mins.Format: BLU-RAY DISC Genre: DRAMA/PSYCHOLOGICAL DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 786936726312 Manufacturer No: 5365803

Amazon.com:
For his initial offering as director, Ben Affleck returns to the site of his first Oscar: South Boston. (He and Matt Damon shared the award for Good Will Hunting.) Hot on the heels of his moving turn in Hollywoodland, Affleck's Dennis Lehane adaptation marks one of the more seamless actor-to-filmmaker transitions in recent years. Ostensibly, a procedural about the search for a missing child, class and corruption emerge as his primary concerns. First off, there's low-rent private eye Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck, equally adept in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford). Then there's the girl's drug mule mother, Helene (Amy Ryan, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead). She and Patrick grew up in Dorchester, but he took a different path, setting up an agency with his girlfriend, Angie (Michelle Monaghan). Helene's aunt, Bea (Amy Madigan), hires the duo to augment the investigation, and they team up with Captain Doyle (Morgan Freeman) and Detective Bressant (Madigan's husband, Ed Harris). The authorities don't appreciate the interference, but Patrick knows how to get the local populace talking, and he soon finds there's more to the story than anyone could possibly imagine. Hard-hitting, but never soft-headed, the evocative end result proves Affleck has a flair for this directing thing and that his little brother can carry a major motion picture with aplomb. Gone Baby Gone belongs on the list of great Boston crime dramas, along with The Departed and Mystic River, Clint Eastwood’s take on Lehane. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Rating : - Hat's off to Alan Ladd Jr, Dan Rissner, and Sean Bailey for a big winner
I first heard of this film project in November of 2005 when Dan Rissner, one of the co-producers, contacted me to ask for the manuscript of an unpublished baseball novel I had on the back burner. I found him open and down to earth, and while he wasn't able to pull things together, I became interested in his work.

I've now seen the final product and I am impressed. It's not often I buy a DVD for my collection, but this time I did. All success storys begin with savvy casting, and here the producers made truly excellent choices: Casey Affleck might be a bit fuzzy cheeked, but he fit the iron-willed investigator perfectly, and the chemistry between him and his business partner/girlfriend Allie (Michelle Monaghan)felt genuine. Of course, with old pros Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman in supporting roles, the backup cast had to outdo itself and happily that's what they did. I was particularly taken with Amy Ryan as the undeserving and graceless mother of the kidnapped child. She was so convincing, I actually hoped she wouldn't end up getting her kid back.

Gone Baby Gone is not a happy story. It depicts life in the city where everything is hard-edged, nothing is ever for sure and openness and honesty are usually the first casualties. Highly recommended.

Art Tirrell is the author of the 2007 adventure novel The Secret Ever Keeps set on and under the waters of Lake Ontario.

"Simply put...the best underwater scenes I've ever read." - reviewer MW