Gone Baby Gone
Grade: B

Ben Affleck makes his directing debut with this dark tale about a private detective (Ben's brother, Casey) who undergoes an ethical crisis while investigating the abduction of a Boston girl. Unfortunately he only delivers half of a good movie, forsaking taut and credible suspense for convoluted plotting at the halfway point. Looking back on preposterous denouement of Mystic River, this seems to be the curse of films based on mystery novels by Dennis Lehane (Martin Scorsese's adaptation of Shutter Island - a book which also boasts some severely off-the-rails plotting - is due out in 2009). Even though you may roll your eyeballs at the storyline, you should see Gone Baby Gone for its terrific ensemble cast. Ed Harris, Amy Madigan and Michelle Monaghan all turn in solid work, but the real revelation here is stage actress Amy Ryan, who is positively brilliant and horrifying as the wisecracking, drug addict mother of the missing girl. She's a front-runner for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, and she deserves to win.