Remember Ben Affleck's golden days? Good Will Hunting, Armageddon, Shakespeare in Love, Changing Lanes? Hard to believe all of those were made in the last decade. Affleck's fall from grace has been fast and severe, with flops such as Daredevil, Gigli and Jersey Girl tarnishing his image as a Hollywood megastar. Yet it seems as though the former Dazed and Confused stoner (not to mention ex-J.Lo flame) has found a new and better calling -- directing.
Yep, you read it right. Just when many thought Ben Affleck should go bury his head in the ground, take some acting lessons from his best buddy Matt Damon or "discover" himself on a remote island in the Pacific (and never come back), he turned the tables and followed in the footsteps of several other prominent actors -- moving behind the camera for Gone, Baby, Gone. It turned out to be a damn good choice, too.
Affleck's first role in the director's chair incidentally involves directing younger brother Casey -- best known for his recurring role as disgruntled twin Virgil Malloy in the Ocean's films. Here, the younger Affleck stars as Patrick Kenzie, a Boston private eye hired to augment the investigation of a girl gone missing in his own working-class neighborhood. Though Patrick and his partner Angie (Michelle Monaghan of MI:3 fame) know the ways and means of the local people, nothing is as it seems when dealing with police captain Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman) and detective Remy Bressant (Ed Harris).
Casey, who also recently starred in the critically acclaimed The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, is slowly building his credibility as an Hollywood up-and-comer. His performance as Patrick, a guy who tries his best to help but finds himself in over his head, seems wise beyond Casey's 32 years. It's a brooding, complex role that still gives the younger Affleck enough lines to demonstrate his great potential. Freeman, Harris and Monaghan are a helluva supporting cast. They fit well into their distinctive roles, with Freeman and Harris lending trademark veteran skills to the film and Monaghan successfully demonstrating why she's an actress on the rise. Amy Ryan, playing the missing girl's drunken, coke-addled trainwreck of a mother, also tackles her role devastatingly well. Letting go of all trepidation was clearly part of the job description, and Ryan is voracious in her depiction of a woman teetering on the edge of reason.
Still, the prime story behind Gone, Baby, Gone is the comeback of Ben Affleck. He's only in his mid-30s, yet has had to endure a rollercoaster ride that many Hollywood actors don't see in a lifetime, let alone 10 years. But the elder Affleck has finally matured. He has a loving, successful, smokin' hot wife, and a daughter to prove it. For Gone, Baby, Gone, he returned to his Boston roots, co-wrote a gripping screenplay (based on the book by Dennis Lehane, who also penned Mystic River) and directed an entertaining thriller with almost no wrong turns. Not bad for a first try.
For once, I'm excited to see what's next in the life of Ben Affleck.
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