Gone Girl

I am trying to read the book now but I don't think I will finish before it opens this weekend. I'm definitely looking forward to it though.

The book was a page turner. I loved/hated it - but couldn't put it down.

I haven't been to a movie in ages, but this is one that will get me back into the theater. From the clips I've seen, the performances all look wonderful.

---

Tom, so glad I never read the book and knew nothing about it. I do know the ending has been changed from the book.

---

From what I understand the movie and its ending very closely follow the book. It had been reported earlier that there were major changes but now all the reports agree that at most they are tonal.

I also both love and to a much lesser extent hate the book (have no problem with "the big reveal," but have major issues with "the final act") and am really excited about the movie.

Updated On: 10/2/14 at 11:11 AM

I thought the book was hysterically funny. Can't wait to see Missi Pyle as the Nancy Grace manqué.

---

Oh...I agree that there were some problems with the way it comes to a conclusion, but overall, the feeling of emptiness I felt was something really interesting to experience and think about for a while. So I appreciated enough to forgive the flaws.

I think Flynn achieved something very strong in her take on the smug cheapness of today's pop culture particularly in the way it processes scandal and chooses sides with suspect certitude. And her endnote has a Strindbergian messiness, a choice which could have worked brilliantly but, for me, missed its mark. It's a very clever, ambitious book which alas collapses under the weight of its aspirations. But that doesn't mean that I dismiss it entirely; far from it. On balance, it's a very fine book in spite of its problems. Funny, perceptive, grandly entertaining and mostly beautifully constructed and composed.

Updated On: 10/2/14 at 02:42 PM

Spoiler........Well Maybe






I was wrong ( so people tell me ) the ending has not been changed from the book

---

I loved it. I think David Fincher is the first director since Hitchcock who can blend the elements of suspense, melodrama and sly humor, then elevate it all to something really special.

My favorite Hitchcock quote was when he told François Truffaut that Psycho was a comedy. Fincher has the same sensibility. But the best part is that he doesn't ape Hitchcock as so many other directors have.

Spoilers will abound, so..


Just got back an I knew there was going to be a twist but I did not think it was that. They might as well start engraving Rosamund Pike's Oscar because as good as Ben was, and he was Fantastic, she walked away with the movie. Especially with all of her scenes in the second half.

That's what I was alluding to when I said that she has so much on her plate with this role. My only complaint with her, barely a complaint, is I wish she had made Amy more innocent before the twist. My first experience with the book was the audiobook, and the way Amy's voice actor changed her voice at the drop of the hat after he opens the shed made it all the more chilling. Rosamund was brilliant in showing the true character of Amy, but I wish she was more innocent or sheepish or doting in the beginning to even better show the contrast.

Speaking of, I wish they had kept the parts where she talks about how much she despises her parents and those books and how that got her started on this psychotic path at a pretty early age. I also wish they had reinforced the idea in the book that she was not hurt to find out he cheated, she was more offended and appalled that someone so beneath her would have the nerve, so she set out to ruin his life.

The score! Trent Reznor delivers in another David Fincher movie, reminding me how perfect of a pair they can be. The music during the throat-slitting scene made it that much more uncomfortable to sit through.

I really hope that people continue to give Ben the credit he now deserves. He was such great casting for this, with his almost Scott-Peterson-like vibe. Still, it is Rosamund's artwork.

Updated On: 10/3/14 at 10:36 PM

It did feel a little long, even for me who read the book and knew what all still needed to happen.

Hopefully, some in your crew haven't read the book, like my company for the night hadn't. So disturbing.

Updated On: 10/3/14 at 10:46 PM

It was very Vertigo meets Psycho meets Suspicion.

As for Psycho, it's the innocence that Anthony Perkins as Norman gives off that, to me, makes Psycho have such a classic twist, and that's what I needed more of from Rosamund.