28 February 2008
Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Movies really need to stop justifying slightly weird titles. Because if a title is slightly weird, the dialogue that justifies it is always going to be conspicuous and more than slightly so. Can you imagine Tom Cruise going full salvo to Sidney Pollack across from the pool table?
And it’s okay, once in awhile. “We’re catchin’ the 3:10 to Yuma.” You know? If you get the impression that the words are in italics, thereby signifying the title of the piece of work, and less a statement of the whole movie’s plot as it is in the case of Yuma, well, there’s something wrong. Witness: “She’s Gone, baby! Gone!.” (Not a direct quote, but it’s close enough.) Maybe the dialogue would have been acceptable if the title had the necessary punctuation, but that might make the reading of the oscar nominees slightly awkward.
And so what’s with Dennis Lehane’s novels being poached for movies, anyway? I know I’m not the only one that finds these mysteries like poorly executed episodes of Law & Order with Thespioniage. And okay, its ending is really interesting in terms of how it works backwards and how it actually makes sense, but excuse me? Did you not see the first 110 dull minutes of the movie? Or Ed Harris’ “I Will Lay You Down” speech not indicative of where it was headed? (And even if it is turning the whole somebody-close-is-involved-and-it’ll-be-surprising-aren’t-you-surprised-it’s-that-overly-qualified-actor-in-a-bit-part formula on its head, the motions are still too familiar and too bogged down with anything that’s all-that-intriguing.)
So.
The ending of this movie is great! Even if that whole scene with the pig head was a little extreme and unlikely. You know? It’s like these movie villains get locked into their roles or something. Would this have really been the way this guy would have gone about trying to keep his secrets? But there’s a good discordance, even, between the two bad guys here and how those solutions to the problem both would have worked, had they not gone about them at the same time.
Oh you silly movie villains! If you’d only talk about your dastardly plans prior to the, erm, ahem, execution of them – well, then you’d be doing all right, wouldn’t you? At least you wouldn’t be gone, baby! Gone! (Maybe the problem with this title and the punctuation is seems a little bit like it’s coming out of Austin Powers’ mouth. Gone, baby, yeah! Gone! Perhaps it should be Gone! Baby, gone! or Gone! Baby! Gone! And then it could just be about a guy telling his baby to get lost. Oops! Spoiler!
I’ve never seen a Movie Macguffin be the corpse of a young child in a bathtub! Hooray for Hollywood! If that isn’t enough to recommend it, then I don’t know what is!