Eight Reasons You Should See Gone Girl

The film adaption of Gillian Flynn’s bestselling 2012 book is finally here. Directed by David Fincher and starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl tells the story of Nick and Amy Dunne, a married couple with a whole lot of baggage. When Amy Dunne goes missing, the town of North Carthage, the authorities, and the media all turn to the husband.

Did Nick Dunne kill his wife? I won’t reveal any spoilers here, but whether you read the book or not, there are still plenty of reasons to go see Gone Girl, in theaters now:

1. Your boy Ben Affleck is a star. He’s so great at bringing the creepy-dumb-possibly-a-psycho-murderer Nick Dunne to life that halfway through the film you might start worrying about Jennifer Garner’s safety in real life. But aside from bouts of lice and embarrassing run-ins with George Clooney, Daredevil and Elektra seem to be living happily ever after.

2. Rosamund Pike is a superstar. To understand how Rosamund Pike so perfectly brought Amazing Amy to life, you should know about three of her previous roles:

• She played Jane Bennet in Pride & Prejudice (2005). This is fun trivia to know when Nick and Amy are being lovey-dovey in a library and Jane Austen comes up. Yes Nick, women are complicated—especially yours.

• She played Bruce Willis’s wife in Surrogates (2009). Pike plays Maggie, whose robot surrogate you see for most of the movie is a stunning beauty, but when the character’s human form reveals herself, the plasticky luster is gone.

• Most importantly, you should know that Pike played Bond girl Miranda Frost in the 007 flick Die Another Day (2002). She’s not the nice one.

3. Gone Girl the movie is way funnier than Gone Girl the book. Not that the drama of the story isn’t amped up either, but Carrie Coon delivers Nick’s twin sister Margo’s comedic moments flawlessly. Dumb neighbor Noelle Hawthorne (Casey Wilson) also provokes plenty of giggles.

4a. Your boy Ben Affleck really does show his penis. As promised, the appearance is very brief, not exciting, and also unnecessary.

4b. Your boy Neil Patrick Harris also shows his penis. This appearance is much more of an “event” than Ben Affleck’s, but again, when has there ever been a demand to see NPH’s penis?

4c. The model from “Blurred Lines” shows her boobs (er…again). Of the many interesting casting decisions made for Gone Girl, Emily Ratajkowski playing Nick Dunne’s “friend” Andie was perhaps the most questionable. She plays her part well, and we’ll leave it at that.

5. Ellen Abbott is Nancy Grace. The cable news host played by Missi Pyle is confident that Nick Dunne is guilty of killing his wife. She skewers him with this accusation and others, including twin-cest with Margo. She’s perhaps the most prominent example in the movie of the media gone haywire, and her appearances on screen are an SNL skit all their own.

6. Ben Affleck catches a gummy bear in his mouth. During his media training with Tyler Perry and Margo.

7. Ben Affleck does not wear a Yankees cap. This was perhaps the only disagreement the actor had with director David Fincher. As a diehard Sox fan, Affleck put his foot down. The compromise is a Mets cap, and since the movie is set in Missouri, you will see some Cardinals gear as well.

8. All those twists and turns. Fincher, as expected, does an excellent job of adapting Gillian Flynn’s bestselling book for the screen. Shifts in perspective, flashbacks, and other techniques are executed in a way such that folks who read the book will be satisfied.

Some people might wonder why, for example, the morning crepe scene from the book doesn’t open the film, but such curious creative differences will be long forgotten by the time you find out what the hell is really going on with the plot.

And finally, yes, as previously reported, the ending to the movie is slightly different from the ending to the book, but not in such a way that readers will be upset.