Gone Girl (2014)

[ktwo]

One thing I wish had translated more from the book over to them movie was Nick's fear that he was doomed to be just like his father, a horrible, emotionally abusive guy who failed at being a dad. I thought that did a lot to explain why Nick refused to leave Amy once he knew she was pregnant.

This for me was one of the only casualties of fitting the long book into a movie. There was a lot left out about his dad. Overall, having seen it in the theater and again at home, I still think everyone did a fantastic job.

[revbfc]

Please forgive me if someone has asked this before:

What are the chances that Desi is the father?

[cpcathy]

Quite high.

[KatWay]

Pretty small if I remember correctly...at least in the book they were living together for quite some time before she announced her baby news. I mean, Nick had time to write an entire book about her. There was enough time between her time with Desi and her pregnancy to exclude him as a possibility.

[Spartan Girl]

Plus the book made it quite clear that Amy had already saved Nick's sperm from when he went to the clinic and just tricked him into thinking that she told them to dispose it.  I'm pretty sure Amy wouldn't have risked getting pregnant by Desi; you could tell by her confident response to Nick saying he wanted a paternity test: "I love tests."  She's a sociopath, but you got to admire how well she plans in advance.

[dusang]

In the book it's pretty explicit that she very deliberately got pregnant, by returning to the sperm bank, as a precaution against Nick going rogue.  Also, she and Desi only have sex the one time (that time being when she drugs him).  In the book, there's no chance that it's Desi's baby.

Edited March 24, 2015 by dusang

[CofCinci]

Jon Hamm was supposed to be in the Nick role but Mad Men's showrunner wouldn't allow it.

http://defamer.gawker.com/wait-why-wasnt-jon-hamm-in-gone-girl-1694512704/+kellyconaboy

[methodwriter85]

I don't know. I could have kinda seen it, but I liked the boyishness that Affleck still has. It was perfect for Nick. Affleck looks like an overgrown frat boy; Hamm doesn't have that man-child thing going for him. I think that was something important for Nick- Nick needs to have this air of youthfulness/boyishness to him.

Edited March 30, 2015 by methodwriter85

[JBC344]

I don't know. I could have kinda seen it, but I liked the boyishness that Affleck still has. It was perfect for Nick. Affleck looks like an overgrown frat boy; Hamm doesn't have that man-child thing going for him. I think that was something important for Nick- Nick needs to have this air of youthfulness/boyishness to him.

I completely agree.  Affleck has the perfect look and ironically former image to portray Nick.  Jon Hamm would of probably been fine, but I think he would have been a little too polished in the role. 

[methodwriter85]

Yeah. Affleck looks like that guy you can see who will still have big keggars and parties with his former high school/college buddies whenever his wife allows it. You know what I mean? Like, I have this buddy who will still throw big ragers every year for his friends from high school and college, and even though the families are coming along as well and it's tamed down a bit, he's still That Former College Jock Enjoying Being Around His Buds despite the fact that he's now a married father of two in his mid-30's living a domesticated life in the suburbs. That's what Nick needs to feel like- the guy who bought a Bar and has this part of him that never emotionally left being 18 years old.

 

I can't see Hamm on the coach playing video games, or shooting beer pong balls into a cup, which are things that you need to picture Nick doing because that's the core of who Nick is. He's the Peter Pan that never grew up and is happy to hang out with his high school friends as Homecoming King again.

Edited March 30, 2015 by methodwriter85

[MrsRafaelBarba]

Nick came across a bit  TOOLish to me, is that how the character is in the novel?

 

If so, Affleck pretty much nailed it.

 

 

Hamm would've been a better fit as Nick's hot shot attorney.

[dusang]

Also, hasn't Hamm done enough as a philandering husband with a borderline psycho wife?

 

 

Nick came across a bit  TOOLish to me, is that how the character is in the novel?

 

If so, Affleck pretty much nailed it..

 

Yes, that's pretty much it.  In the book he's described, repeatedly, as having a douchey fratboy face that you just want to punch.

 

I read the book after the movie came out but was (shockingly, in retrospect) entirely unspoiled for it.  The first half is told in alternating first person, Nick in the present day and Amy in her diary.  Having no idea where it was going, I thought the whole thing would be a study on how everyone is sympathetic in their own mind.  Objectively, Nick is a tool.  But as he explains himself you can feel sympathy for him.

[MrsRafaelBarba]

THIS is definitley a film, that should be viewed unspoiled.

 

 

So glad I got to experience it that way.

[Janet Snakehole]

Nick came across a bit  TOOLish to me, is that how the character is in the novel?

 

If so, Affleck pretty much nailed it.

 

 

Hamm would've been a better fit as Nick's hot shot attorney.

Honestly, I hated Nick much more in the book. If anything, Affleck made the character more sympathetic in my eyes.

[thegriswolds]

I completely agree.  Affleck has the perfect look and ironically former image to portray Nick.  Jon Hamm would of probably been fine, but I think he would have been a little too polished in the role. 

I thought Affleck did a great job.  After reading the book and then hearing it would be made into a movie, though, my first thought for Nick was Bradley Cooper.  

[MrsRafaelBarba]

I thought Affleck did a great job.  After reading the book and then hearing it would be made into a movie, though, my first thought for Nick was Bradley Cooper.

Will Tippin can't act his way out of a paper bag, but has the punchable face and Tool persona on lock.

[methodwriter85]

Will Tippin can't act his way out of a paper bag, but has the punchable face and Tool persona on lock.

 

Pat Solitano would disagree with you.

 

I do think it should have been Bradley Cooper (physically and age-wise he's closer to what Nick should have been), but Ben Affleck nailed it.

 

It was kind of perfect- Affleck played the "bully who gets his comeuppance" at least twice, I believe. Which is what Nick is supposed to look like- the overgrown bully from high school movies who gets his comeuppance as everybody cheers.

Edited April 7, 2015 by methodwriter85

[VCRTracking]

"Befriend a local idiot." still makes me laugh.

Edited June 20, 2015 by VCRTracking

[methodwriter85]

"Befriend a local idiot." still makes me laugh.

 

Especially since the local idiot honestly believed Amy was her best friend.

 

Now that Amy is basically Princess Diana, I'm guessing the local idiot will basically serve as her lady-in-waiting/desperate clinger on.

[Spartan Girl]

Yup, definitely one of my favorite lines.

[VCRTracking]

The third act when she comes back covered in blood and into Nick's arms and the press are all over it is where it unabashedly becomes a total black comedy. When Boney is asking questions poking holes in her story but the FBI guys are ignoring her and just buying the whole act. Then when they arrive home and she sees out the car all those fans saying "I love you!" the look on Rosamund Pike's face is incredible.

Edited June 21, 2015 by VCRTracking

[Janet Snakehole]

I love it when they are hugging all dramatically and Nick whispers into her ear, "you fucking bitch" or something of the sort.

I really want to rewatch, but I am too afraid of cringing during NPH's character's death.

[Amethyst]

Wow, that was insane.  I was spoiled on the ending, but I didn't know about the many small details of the story, and that's really what made it work.  Even thought it's a lot to absorb, I would like to see it again.

 

The ending is so messed up.  Nick and Amy really are made for each other, but I could see why Go was sobbing at the fact that Nick would be tied to Amy forever.

 

When Amy was preparing to have sex with Desi, what was she doing with the wine bottle?

[VCRTracking]

She was trying to make it look like she was raped by using the bottle to cause vaginal tearing.

 

Gone Girl just premiered on HBO tonight and it's funny to see the reactions of first time viewers on Twitter. Like most people who've read the book and seen it in theaters they HATED the ending.  I wonder about how the original ending to Fatal Attraction (1987) was Glenn Close committing suicide and framing Michael Douglas for her murder. The test audiences hated it and wanted her punished. So  they changed the ending to a more "satisfactory" where she breaks into his house, he drowns her in the tub but then she pops back up and the wife played by Anne Archer shoots her in the heart. The movie became a huge hit but I think it's a lesser movie with the new ending.

Edited June 21, 2015 by VCRTracking

[Amethyst]

She was trying to make it look like she was raped by using the bottle to cause vaginal tearing.

 

I suspected as much.  Thanks for confirming it.

[ribboninthesky1]

I can't speak for the movie, but the book ending was ridiculous NOT because I wanted Amy punished.  The author spent a lot of time in the book on the investigation of Amy's disappearance, and suddenly the police are hit with the stupid stick to get to a "controversial" ending. I'm not saying that police aren't biased towards (white) women in peril, but that social more can really go either way in the present. If the ending had been properly setup, I might have thought it clever.  But when I, as someone who's never worked in law enforcement, can easily pick apart someone's account of events, it does not bode well.  

 

The book is a prime example of why the ending is as important as the beginning, at least for me. 

[callie lee 29]

 

THIS is definitley a film, that should be viewed unspoiled.

 

So glad I got to experience it that way.

Ehh, I don't know. I read the book, and I have a habit of looking up spoilers before I see movies, and I enjoyed. My three friends who went with never read the book (I don't think two them knew it was a book), and they all hated it. Mileage, you know.

[pricklypear]

I agree with a lot of these comments. I liked the book up until the ending. The artificial insemination was just a bit too much for me to handle (perhaps because someone very close to me has gone through several rounds of IVF, and it isn't just as simple as fill a turkey baster up with the guy's junk). 

 

I have to say that all of the comments of Nick being kind of a douchey, asshole, frat-boy type and Ben Affleck being PERFECT for this role has me feeling a little bad for BA. lol

[DollEyes]

  My verdict: I loved it. Gone Girl works on several levels-as a mystery, a character study, a horror movie and a satire. Casting-wise, while ITA that Bradley Cooper could have played Nick and either Amy Adams or co-Executive Producer Reese Witherspoon could have played Amy-who IMO is basically just the adult and even crazier version of Election's Tracy Flick-I also think that Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike were great choices. Affleck's Nick is both douchy and sympathetic while RP's Amy is one of the best villains of all time, male or female. While I hated Nick for his neglecting/cheating on Amy, by the second half I had no sympathy for Amy whatsoever. Nick was a shitty husband, but Amy's shitty period. She's a world-class whack job who framed her ex-boyfriend for rape because he dumped her crazy ass, ruining his life in the process, not to mention what she did to Nick. Amy's telling Nick that she would never hurt him made me roll my eyes to the point of blindness. Since Amy framed Nick for her murder, she was more than capable of hurting him. When Amy was attacked and robbed, I cheered. Given all the nasty shit she pulled/ was pulling, it was karmic justice, the way I see it. 

 

  After Amy's deceit was exposed, Nick had my sympathy. So did Desi, oddly enough. Desi may have been a creepy stalker, but when it comes to batshit craziness, even he didn't hold a candle to Amy.  Almost any man who ever crossed Amy's path ended up suffering for it, whether they deserved it or not. I don't normally approve of couples staying together for a child's sake, but given who this child's mother will be, Nick is its only chance at any semblance of sanity. As for the supporting cast, Carrie C***, NPH and Missy Pyle were outstanding. But the real revelation was Tyler Perry. This was the first time that I've ever liked a Tyler Perry character-and knowing him, it will probably be the last.

 

 

 

Will Tippin can't act his way out of a paper bag,

 

 Bradley Cooper's back-to-back-to back Best Actor Oscar nominations for Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle and American Sniper, his Lead Actor Tony nomination for his performance in the title role of The Elephant Man, which he did without prosthetic make-up and his voiceover of Rocket the Raccoon in Guardians Of the Galaxy, proves otherwise.

Edited June 26, 2015 by DollEyes

[Spartan Girl]

And let's not forget Amy WAS stringing Desi along by keeping in touch with him all those years...

[Constantinople]

I didn't understand her plan to toss herself into the Gulf of Mexico and assume that her body would be found. How was that going to incriminate Nick? When would he have had the time to dump her body there and get back home without anybody missing him?

I also didn't understand how she planned to ensure her body would be found. Even if her body was found, I don't understand how the coroners would estimate she'd been dead the right amount of time. If the body is found and the coroners estimate she's been dead a few days or a week, that's kind of a problem if she went missing several weeks ago and he husband has been in the national spotlight since day 3 or so.

 

There were also many moments of contrivance/luck which required me to handwave a bit. Nice that Desi had NO ONE who could serve as an alibi (e.g. "he couldn't have taken her on x day because he was in Europe on business that day").

That also made no sense.

In addition to witnesses, what about checking debit and credit card purchases?

For that matter, wouldn't the police be curious about all of Desi's phone calls, both incoming and outgoing, especially one that could be tracked to some truck stop in the middle of nowhere?

How did Desi transport Amy back to his lake house? Why isn't there any DNA of Amy in the trunks of any of his cars? Why isn't there any DNA of his at her house?

And on and on and on.

I don't think a movie should be credited for not having a stereotypical Hollywood ending if the actual ending is totally implausible.

[VCRTracking]

Somebody on the board posted earlier that Ben Affleck was perfect casting because he was like "bully in high school who gets his comeuppance". I think a big reason people hated the ending was that Amy was revealed to be the "mean girl" in high school who everyone hates because she thinks she's better than everyone and she ends up getting her way.

 

I also think as deserving as Rosamund Pike winning an Oscar for Best Actress, if she had won, that would have totally given away in the future that her role was more substantial in the story. She was great casting because before the movie she wasn't that well known in America, so you don't expect her to have a bigger role. I had first seen her in 2002 in the Pierce Brosnan Bond movie Die Another Day(funnily enough where she plays a rookie fellow agent who turns out to be a villain). Then she was Jane in Pride and Prejudice and a bunch of other things after that but she wasn't a big name. You wouldn't believe a more famous actress like exec producer Reese Witherspoon would just play the missing wife.

[ZaldamoWilder]

I just finished the book a couple of weeks ago.  So how stoked was I to turn to HBO last night and see that the movie, that I'd had no interest in until I read the book was about to come on. 

 

Somebody upthread mentioned being too into the how closely the book details were being presented to stay invested in the movie.  Yes, that.  Because for me it wasn't just that some details were eliminated for the sake of translation or time, they were important in other ways so the largely pedantic part of me couldn't get past it in time not to miss stuff in the movie.   Like Tyler Perry as Tanner Bolt.  No on a couple of fronts.  I still haven't forgiven whoever cast him as Alex Cross and this is now the 2nd time I've been betrayed by the same man lol.  Race aside, the reason this wasn't Tanner for me was because book Tanner is flashy, he's slicker, from his perfect Miami Beach white teeth, to the precision haircut to the spray tan, the guy is the Kim Kardashian of lawyers and when we are introduced to his wife, we're sort of slapped in the face with - yeah, not what you were expecting, huh? don't judge a book by its cover.  Which, I don't know call me overthinking it, might be an important part of Tanner's and overall, Flynn's subtle directive - you're concentrating on the wrong thing focusing on me, it doesn't end how you think.

 

I also don't think the movie presents how fully delusionally psychotic Desi is.  Of course there is more opportunity for character development in a book but the movie really skips over how, in comparison to Nick, Amy comes to find him more repulsive than she remembers.  There's a line in there about how Nick may not like who she is, but at least he would never try to change her.   We don't get how much she despises Desi in the movie.  Which I think is also important because it makes the reader understand why she'd want to be rid of him.  Don't get me wrong I'm not about to sympathize with a murderer, well, eeesh, shit I guess I am but even though it wasn't part of her original plan, you get why she thinks he's disposable.   Third thing - in the book, Desi's mom (who has had an adversarial if not combative relationship with Amy) is justifiably inconsolable.  She shows up at the police all scorched earth talking about hostage her ass, that bitch murdered her son.   So I know they don't have the time to introduce this woman in the movie, even as a tertiary character, but the guy is killed and nobody in his whole cipher says wait, what?  That bothered me.

 

My sister who had seen the movie not read the book, while I was reading the book without having seen the movie said to me, do you get a sense of why Amy is such a fucking nutbag, because I really can't figure out from the movie how she became a sociopath.  I said that's why I'm gonna need you to read this.  She didn't become a sociopath, she'd always been one.  I said do you remember if there's a part of the movie where Amy explains what a cool girl is because that provides some major insight into her depravity.   She said yeah I think there was but I still don't see it.    The book launch party where Amy makes references to the differences between herself and Amazing Amy and the Cool Girl speech needed to be more significant.   While we're talking about stuff being left out, it also doesn't come across on screen just how much she positively resents Nick by the time they leave NYC.

 

Despite all that I really did like how closely Gillian still stuck to the book.  I was way too busy closing mental gaps from page to screen though so I'd have to see it again to get a kick out of it.  At the very least, I wanna see what JLo was working with, gonna need to see if I can spot me some Affleck dong. 

 

::smoothsskirt::

[FuriousStyles]

Finally saw this last night on hbo. Didnt read the book, so I wasn't spoiled on the particulars. I never thought Nick killed Amy. He seemed like too much of a lazy idiot to do something like that. But for a good chunk of the movie I still wanted him to go to prison just for being so stupid. Taking selfies with the volunteer, having his girlfriend/student sleep over, smiling while standing next to the giant "Missing" poster of Amy. I laughed when Amy was watching the playback of the press conference, and was actually looking for him to crack that idiot smile of his.

There was a question earlier about whether it came across in the movie re: Nick having to repeatedly remind himself of how an innocent person would act. To me, it didnt, but Margo definitely did it for him. She clearly was the one born with the brains.

I was rooting for Amy to succeed until I realized what a true psychopath she is, as if going to elaborate lengths to frame your husband for your murder wasnt a huge red flag in and of itself. But what got me side-eyeing her was when she hit herself in the face with the hammer and all the talk of actually killing herself. Hearing from the old boyfrienabout how she framed him for rape and how it messed his life up also made me HATE her.

Pretty much, BOTH Nick and Amy were unlikable and I rooted for each one during different parts of the movie.

I know the movie had to end somehow, but being such a great movie throughout, I thought the ending left much to be desired. I didnt care that Amy got away with it so much as HOW she did. There were so many holes in her story, that the detective brought up. Not to mention that if the cops bothered to look at Desi's security footage it would clearly show that he and Amy arrived at his house days (if not weeks) after she initially "disappeared". So where the hell was she before that?

And isnt there a test that can be done to prove if a woman was ever pregnant (regardless of whether she had a miscarriage). I wish the cops had somehow forced Amy to do that test (since she loves tests). Speaking of which, the bff she stole the pee from looked wayy further along than 6 weeks. She looked about 4 or 5 MONTHS pregnant, there's another inconsistency.

Edited June 22, 2015 by FuriousStyles

[methodwriter85]

Finally saw this last night on hbo. Didnt read the book, so I wasn't spoiled on the particulars. I never thought Nick killed Amy. He seemed like too much of a lazy idiot to do something like that. But for a good chunk of the movie I still wanted him to go to prison just for being so stupid. Taking selfies with the volunteer, having his girlfriend/student sleep over, smiling while standing next to the giant "Missing" poster of Amy. I laughed when Amy was watching the playback of the press conference, and was actually looking for him to crack that idiot smile of his.

There was a question earlier about whether it came across in the movie re: Nick having to repeatedly remind himself of how an innocent person would act. To me, it didnt, but Margo definitely did it for him. She clearly was the one born with the brains.

I was rooting for Amy to succeed until I realized what a true psychopath she is, as if going to elaborate lengths to frame your husband for your murder wasnt a huge red flag in and of itself. But what got me side-eyeing her was when she hit herself in the face with the hammer and all the talk of actually killing herself. Hearing from the old boyfrienabout how she framed him for rape and how it messed his life up also made me HATE her.

Pretty much, BOTH Nick and Amy were unlikable and I rooted for each one during different parts of the movie.

I know the movie had to end somehow, but being such a great movie throughout, I thought the ending left much to be desired. I didnt care that Amy got away with it so much as HOW she did. There were so many holes in her story, that the detective brought up. Not to mention that if the cops bothered to look at Desi's security footage it would clearly show that he and Amy arrived at his house days (if not weeks) after she initially "disappeared". So where the hell was she before that?

And isnt there a test that can be done to prove if a woman was ever pregnant (regardless of whether she had a miscarriage). I wish the cops had somehow forced Amy to do that test (since she loves tests). Speaking of which, the bff she stole the pee from looked wayy further along than 6 weeks. She looked about 4 or 5 MONTHS pregnant, there's another inconsistency.

 

I think that's just the reality that Rosamund Pike was pregnant while filming the movie.

 

I do think the point the book, and the movie, was making was that because Amy was the Heroic Amazing Amy Who Survived Being Kidnapped, no one wanted to question her seriously (except for Boney), because she was elevated to mythic proportions.

[VCRTracking]

 

Like Tyler Perry as Tanner Bolt.  No on a couple of fronts.  I still haven't forgiven whoever cast him as Alex Cross and this is now the 2nd time I've been betrayed by the same man lol.  Race aside, the reason this wasn't Tanner for me was because book Tanner is flashy, he's slicker, from his perfect Miami Beach white teeth, to the precision haircut to the spray tan, the guy is the Kim Kardashian of lawyers and when we are introduced to his wife, we're sort of slapped in the face with - yeah, not what you were expecting, huh? don't judge a book by its cover.  Which, I don't know call me overthinking it, might be an important part of Tanner's and overall, Flynn's subtle directive - you're concentrating on the wrong thing focusing on me, it doesn't end how you think.

 

 

In the DVD commentary by David Fincher, he describes Tanner Bolt in the book as being like "Alec Baldwin in Malice, a smooth,  articulate, insensitive blowhard". He says he chose Tyler Perry, because "he's (like) a talks show host. He listens and puts you at ease."  Fincher's reasoning is when Tanner tells Nick that he has to get a Diane Sawyer type for an interview and tell her that he's been having an affair with his 20 year old student, if that advice had come from a slick huckster, the audience would wonder why he would take that advice.

 

His casting Sela Ward for Sharon Scheiber, for me was perfect because I loved Sela Ward since Sisters, and holy crap she still looks fantastic.

[DrSpaceman]

Watched this for the first time last night.  I kind of knew the ending, someone had described the movie to me about a year ago, but I didn't know all the details

 

Completely shocked when Desi was killed, and at how violently he was killed.  And I watch Game of Thrones every week. 

 

I didn't read the book, probably won't.  I am curious though if it was elaborated on what her plan was initially, was she really going to committ suicide?  Everything seemed to change when she lost her money. 

 

I wish the movie would have used Desi more and explored his character in more depth. 

 

Oh and I haven't had a chance to look it up, but was that Gordon from Halt and Catch Fire? 

I know the other reaction I had in retrospect

 

Watching her kill Desi so violently, never flinched, knew exactly how to do it......got the impression he wasn't the first person she had killed. 

[Cobalt Stargazer]

There was a question earlier about whether it came across in the movie re: Nick having to repeatedly remind himself of how an innocent person would act. To me, it didnt, but Margo definitely did it for him. She clearly was the one born with the brains.

 

There's a scene in the book where Nick, Tanner and Margo are discussing his strategy for dealing with the cops and the media, and Tanner tells him he should confess to the affair and such, act contrite and say that everything is his fault, etc. Nick responds with something to the effect of "So basically I should do what all guys in this situation are supposed to do. Grovel." Given who Book!Nick was, that came across as him being pissy, but if you consider what Amy wanted from him, it isn't entirely inaccurate.

 

Were Amy and Nick equally to blame for what happened? For the sake of argument, let's say yes, but then I think some of the blame should go to the murdered Desi, who stayed in touch with Amy for all those years and then took her in when she "disappeared." Sure, he had ulterior motives, and if you think about it if Amy hadn't reverted to type and cut his throat she'd have had that guy who would go to any lengths to keep her, which is what she wanted and wasn't getting from Nick. But psychos will be psychos, so Desi had to go.

 

Even if Nick had an equal part in things, Amy as his proverbial jailer made me wish he'd killed her, because Go was right, the two of them were poisonous together. and I wasn't sure if Nick's good intentions - the intent to be a better man/father than his own dad - would be able to stand up against Amy's psychopathy and keep the child from becoming warped. Imagine Sunday dinners at the Dunne house after all of that. It sure as hell gives me the heebie-jeebies.

[Bruinsfan]

I really want to rewatch, but I am too afraid of cringing during NPH's character's death.

If you have a tape of this year's Oscars, watch it and you'll be cheering Amy on.

[FuriousStyles]

 

Even if Nick had an equal part in things, Amy as his proverbial jailer made me wish he'd killed her, because Go was right, the two of them were poisonous together. and I wasn't sure if Nick's good intentions - the intent to be a better man/father than his own dad - would be able to stand up against Amy's psychopathy and keep the child from becoming warped. Imagine Sunday dinners at the Dunne house after all of that. It sure as hell gives me the heebie-jeebies.

This is where I think the movie people missed the mark.  I didn't understand how ho hum Nick, who was so gungho about divorcing Amy and moving on with his life would then willingly stay in a marriage with her AFTER she tried to frame him for her murder, and after he knows damn well she murdered another man in cold blood.  If he were really thinking about his child, he would be hashing out some scheme to get the child and have that freak sent away to the looney bin. (Is there a sequel in the works??)  But I got the impression that he was somewhat impressed?  Intrigued?  Turned-on?  by the thought of still being with Amy.  Which makes him as much of a psycho as she is, but I don't think that's what I was supposed to think of him.

[ZaldamoWilder]

This is where I think the movie people missed the mark.  I didn't understand how ho hum Nick, who was so gungho about divorcing Amy and moving on with his life would then willingly stay in a marriage with her AFTER she tried to frame him for her murder, and after he knows damn well she murdered another man in cold blood.  If he were really thinking about his child, he would be hashing out some scheme to get the child and have that freak sent away to the looney bin. (Is there a sequel in the works??)  But I got the impression that he was somewhat impressed?  Intrigued?  Turned-on?  by the thought of still being with Amy.  Which makes him as much of a psycho as she is, but I don't think that's what I was supposed to think of him.

 

This.  It's exactly what you were supposed to think about him and what I was trying to articulate about what there wasn't time to convey in the screenplay.  He not only came to understand her psychosis, he admired her for the sheer complexity it took to execute it. 

[LeGrandElephant]

I just finally saw this and I'm thrilled to see this thread is still active, wow. I thought the beginning was a bit slow and boring, but I stuck with it because I'd heard so much buzz about it. I kind of wish I hadn't already gotten a general sense from the buzz that she was still alive and was framing him, but if I hadn't heard that buzz maybe I would have turned it off in the first 10 minutes. And I also kind of feel like I would have guessed that was a possibility anyway. 

 

I got really wrapped up in it after it was about a third of the way through, and especially after the halfway point when Amy's plan was revealed/confirmed. 

 

I do think there were some investigative plot holes - mainly that Desi was probably seen somewhere not kidnapping Amy during the first few days after she went missing, and also that the security footage at his house would have shown them arriving more recently, and her hair being dyed brown when she arrived and stuff. They should have showed her deleting all tapes from before the last few days, but then it would beg the question of why she couldn't delete all the tapes and just leave without killing him. Also the cops should have been able to check and find Amy's fingerprints on the stuff in the shed, or at least a lack of Nick and Margo's fingerprints on them. 

 

But overall I can buy the idea that the public and most of the male higher up cops believed her victim narrative and didn't want to be seen as the bad guys by questioning her further. The one woman cop who was still suspicious was shut down by the higher ups and would have lost her job if she kept pushing. So I guess the idea that she was thorough at the start but it was taken out of her hands at the end works reasonably well to cover some of the plot holes. 

 

Amy was pretty lucky on some levels, but I also appreciated that her entire plan was messed up badly by the random lowlifes stealing her cash. 

 

Overall I thought it was really compelling after the beginning, but I'm not sure why the beginning seemed so boring and off. They seemed like really bad actors but maybe that was on purpose, that they were both faking their early relationship? I'm glad I stuck with it past that. 

Edited June 24, 2015 by LeGrandElephant

[VCRTracking]

I think it may have been that Amy retelling her version of events in her diary.

 

Listening to a recent podcast praising the Bette Davis classic All About Eve, one of the two reviewers said that Rosamund Pike must have been influenced by Anne Baxter's performance as Eve Harrington, this sociopathic and manipulative character who speaks in this modulated, calm, definitely off manner. I definitely saw the similarities. Also in the podcast they mentioned Sunset Boulevard which came out the same year, whose star Gloria Swanson was up against Davis in the Oscars but both split the votes and ended up losing to Judy Holiday for Born Yesterday. Sunset Boulevard is another movie that Gone Girl reminded me of, especially in the third act when Amy is basking in the adoration from her "public" after committing murder and the way she walks down the staircase as the people look up a her.

[methodwriter85]

This.  It's exactly what you were supposed to think about him and what I was trying to articulate about what there wasn't time to convey in the screenplay.  He not only came to understand her psychosis, he admired her for the sheer complexity it took to execute it. 

I do think that still got through- you could see what a charge Nick/Ben was getting as he started plotting his revenge.

[blixie]

 

was she really going to committ suicide?

 

It was her "plan" but I don't think she was ever really committed to to it, either in the book OR in the movie, she postpones her 'suicide" every day she's in the boonies (because she's enjoying seeing her story in the media exactly like she planned it, and because she hasn't seen enough of Nick suffering), until she then gets robbed and REALLY has to improvise.

 

While I certainly agree that Nick is pathetic masochist who decides in the end to stick it out because he admires how far Amy went to get to him, I still don't think he's in anyway EQUAL to her batshit insane evil. He's just a really REALLY stupid schmuck and like I said masochist who buys into her logic that if your cheat on your wife destroying multiple lives to prove a point is cool beans, and makes you an A++ mom to be. Like WTF you moron? But in the movie I felt the satire of his choice landed much better than it does in the book, because in the book the reader is locked inside Nick/Amy's POV, you never get a break, it's not funny because you being forced to identify with them, the movie allows you to get the entire hell away from them, and enjoy the delicious irony of their mutual prison of their own creation. 

Edited June 24, 2015 by blixie

[LeGrandElephant]

I didn't read the book, but in the movie, I got more of a vibe that Nick was like an abused spouse who was too afraid to leave than that he admired and loved her. He's in a similar position to a lot of battered women - if he leaves, he'll have no financial support, no access to his kid, and he'll always be afraid of what horrible thing Amy might do to him or the kid (either through direct violence or something equally awful). 

 

His only other option would be to wait till the baby is born (and probably a bit older - weaned etc) and then disappear completely with the baby and try to live out their lives in some other country or something. But that's not that easy to do successfully and it would be hard to save up money etc with Amy being so suspicious. Also there's his sister to think about - does he leave her behind to possibly become a target for Amy, or does he try to get her to also give up her whole life to go on the lam with him and the baby? It wasn't clear how many ties Margo has to that town, whether she'd be willing to leave. 

 

I think what he should have done is not fallen for her initial "you'll be the bad guy if you leave me now" and just immediately announced to the press that she'd been framing him and distanced himself from her completely and immediately. True a lot of the public might have hated him but is that worse than sleeping with a psychopath for the rest of your life? But I guess if he didn't think to recover his sperm from the fertility clinic, she could still have trapped him the same way even if he left the house immediately. 

 

I'm getting the impression from comments about the book that it was more two sided there, with Nick seeming like he was also kind of into the psychopathy and also maybe a pretty bad guy. In the movie - he just seems like a boring normal guy who was completely taken advantage of by a psychopath. True, he cheated, which he shouldn't have done - but who among us know how we would behave if we slowly realized we were married to such a horrible manipulative ruthless person? He probably should have just left her instead of cheating, but we saw what she did to the last guy who broke up with her - so its not like Nick had any good options. In the movie, I saw him as not a great person, but a normal non-terrible person, who was just completely ensnared and abused by a really over the top awful psychopath. I didn't see them as anywhere close to even. Having an affair with his student was stupid and immoral, but nowhere near the level of framing someone for murder and actually murdering someone. 

 

I'd like to think that he'll stick it out with Amy till the baby is old enough to be cared for on the road more easily, and then he and Margo will disappear with the baby and live out their lives with new identities in another country, far away from Amy's reach. 

[ZaldamoWilder]

 

True a lot of the public might have hated him but is that worse than sleeping with a psychopath for the rest of your life?

 

Sorry to keep going back to book fleshiness.  Yes.  One of the things that makes Nick's actions so predictable and successful to Amy's plan is his immature need to be viewed as a good guy.    To your other points, he does make an effort to, at least mentally, distinguish himself from her but she does a good job of pointing out that varying degrees notwithstanding, he's a shitty human being too.  Actually she kind of mind fucks him the way typical abusers do into believing that were it not for his unabated shittiness over the years and all of the people who aided and abetted it, they wouldn't be in this situation.  According to Amy, he couldn't have been taken advantage of if he hadn't been an indulgent, self absorbed bastard and if he'd bothered to ever be uncomfortable enough to get to know the real her, he would've already known his wife was psychopath.  So it's really his fault you see lol.  If that's not mind fuck-y enough, she says deep down in places he doesn't wanna admit (™ every movie ever) he's more thrilled by the challenge of her than he would be by any other woman he could find after leaving her.  He's still weak ass Nick so he's not going anywhere because he's too weak to allow his disgust to override his curious admiration.  Then he's pissed because he knows she's right.   It's a really good book ;)

 

Somebody mentioned that the way she killed Desi, boxcutter across the jugular, all heart, made it seem like she'd had some experience with it before.  Bothered me.  She actually ruffies his martini, he never saw his murder coming. 

[LADreamr]

Excellent summary, ZaldamoWilder. Nothing much to add, except that yes, the book is much better than the movie, and I wish that it had focused more on the mind-fuckery. It was much more a psychological thriller than a murder mystery, I thought. I would love to have seen the film focus more on that aspect.

[VCRTracking]

I think in terms of the movie's comedy one of my favorite moments is when Nick is on TV interviewed by Sharon Schieber and saying all these flattering things about her and saying he became a better man because of her. It's so clearly transparent and bullshit and Margo is just rolling her eyes a this. Amy however is so narcissistic that she doesn't care and actually does start to think about coming back! Pike is so funny during this scene where she stops eating custard and is transfixed at the screen. The dirty look she gives Desi when he makes noise pouring champagne is hilarious.

[JBC344]

I think in terms of the movie's comedy one of my favorite moments is when Nick is on TV interviewed by Sharon Schieber and saying all these flattering things about her and saying he became a better man because of her. It's so clearly transparent and bullshit and Margo is just rolling her eyes a this. Amy however is so narcissistic that she doesn't care and actually does start to think about coming back! Pike is so funny during this scene where she stops eating custard and is transfixed at the screen. The dirty look she gives Desi when he makes noise pouring champagne is hilarious.

I agree.  Also it is the scene after that, that sort of exemplifies Nick's attachment to Amy. When he is in the car with Tanner and Margo and they are discussing the interview Nick has the biggest smile on his face as if to say "Your move, Amy".  He isn't terrified, he isn't disgusted that he is sucked into playing this game and all the logical repercussions of how sick this whole thing is, he is thrilled to play a game of chess with Amy.  I would never say that Nick was on the same level as Amy, but he certainly revels in their dysfunction.