Gone Girl Movie Review

I was way late hopping on the Gone Girl bandwagon. As in, I just read the book this year. It's written in such a way that the chapters jump back and forth in time until two perspectives meet up at present day. The style makes it unique, but author Gillian Flynn also throws in lots of turns and twists. I loved GG so much that I had to read Gillian Flynn's other two books, Sharp Objects,

and Dark Places,

even though I was warned they were super dark. This was definitely true (they are dark in a sick, twisted, psychotic sort of way) and yet, like GG, they are written in such a way that the whole time, you are speculating a million different scenarios as more and more clues are unraveled about the characters and timelines. To me, this made them so intriguing! I felt like I had to emotionally remove myself from these last two books, but I really liked the "mystery" component to them.

On to Gone Girl the movie! I've been waiting for this since I finished the book. I really had some doubts as to how they would adapt such a unique written format to film, but I still made sure I had tickets for opening night! I've talked before about my love of Studio Movie Grill, but I'll say it again: this is the best way to see a newly released movie, especially on opening night. The idea of standing in line and having to fight for seats gives me major anxiety, so I love that seats are reserved (and really love the call-button for cocktails mid-movie!).

I was pleasantly surprised that the movie was extremely close to the book, and included tons of details (so much so that the beginning of the movie was on the verge of seeming "slow"). The actors were very well chosen and did the written characters justice (Neil Patrick Harris made an especially intriguing Desi, though the role was a minor one). I watched the movie with two friends, one who had read the book like me and one who had not read it. I realized during the movie what different experiences we were having - there are a few big "shocks" that the story gives, and you can only experience these surprises once, be it via film or via written text. It's cliche to simply say "the book is better than the movie", however this film adaptation made me really appreciate how the book let you savor the turns and twists over pages and pages and thoughts and details, instead of being thrown at you in scene after scene. My friend who hadn't read the book still liked the movie, but if she goes and reads the book now I feel she'll be robbed of the true nail-biting, "just one more page" experience of reading GG for the first time.

The movie is also Hollywood "dramatized", which I actually didn't mind since it was a motion picture competing with other films. I had read somewhere that the movie's ending was going to stray from the book's ending, and I was excited at this notion as the book ending is highly frustrating. Sadly, this was not the case and I left the theatre with that same frustration I had upon finishing the book! Not necessarily "bad" frustration, more "I'm going to keep thinking about this twisted story" frustration, because yes, the storyline is that good.

If you haven't yet read the book or seen the movie, pick one and get to it!