Monday, March 16, 2009

Gone, Baby, Gone


I finally watched the film adaptation of Dennis Lehane's Gone, Baby, Gone over the weekend. I read the book more than a few years ago so I don't have all of the details in my head, however, the story stayed with me. That said, I felt that while the film didn't follow the book exactly (as films rarely do) this was still a faithful adaptation of Lehane's story. When I say faithful adaptation, I mean that although some of the details have been changed, the author's intent remains in tact. Detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro are hired to find Amanda McCready, a four year old abducted from the apartment she lived in with her drug addicted and negligent mother. The story takes place mostly in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston and is directed by Ben Affleck. Affleck does a great job capturing the character of Dorchester and it's residents and most of the actors did a well with the Boston accent, mostly by not trying too hard. The one sore spot was Amy Madigan as Bea McCready, Amanda's aunt. Having lived in Boston for ten years, I found her failed attempt to mimic the accent a bit tough to take. Otherwise, I enjoyed the film adaptation, though not quite as much as I enjoyed the book