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" If you&amp;#039;ve read the book, you&amp;#039;ll know how hard it is to write a review of Gone Girl without splashing spoilers all over the place, like a drunk man at a urinal. And although the film is awesome, if you haven&amp;#039;t read the book (like, WHY NOT?) we recommend you do so immediately, before someone tells you where the eponymous Gone Girl has\u2026well, gone. Fact: films are great, but books are better. But back to the film, which begins with Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) returning home to find his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) has disappeared, with only a smashed dining-room table to hint at what might have happened. Beloved by the nation as the inspiration for her parents&amp;#039; series of children&amp;#039;s books, Amazing Amy, her disappearance is swiftly pounced on by the media.  Suspicion immediately falls on Nick, partly thanks to his inability not to grin whenever a camera&amp;#039;s pointed at him (when you&amp;#039;re supposed to be super-sad that your wife&amp;#039;s gone missing, smiling like a Cheshire cat is not a good look), and he&amp;#039;s forced to hire a lawyer famed for winning lost causes to help his case.  As the nation speculates wildly about what happened to Amazing Amy, Nick struggles to hold it together as the truth about his wife&amp;#039;s disappearance gradually emerges\u2026 Gillian Flynn&amp;#039;s novel was the word-of-mouth smash-hit page-turner of 2013, and the good news is that the film sticks religiously to the plot \u2013 none of this Lord of the Rings-style making stuff up, or removing the point of the whole shebang by changing the ending, a la My Sister&amp;#039;s Keeper.  Gillian Flynn wrote the screenplay, and it shows \u2013 scenes are taken almost wholesale from the book, bringing it wonderfully to life. It helps that the casting is absolutely spot-on. Rosamund Pike is a revelation as Amy, putting in a career-defining performance as a woman whose inner world is increasingly unknowable, and Ben Affleck is by turns understated, funny and sinister as Nick.  The supporting cast provide just the right touches to keep the audience on-side for two and a half hours of darkness \u2013 in the female camp, Carrie Coon as Nick&amp;#039;s twin sister, in turmoil at the thought of what her brother might have done, reflects the audience&amp;#039;s own doubts and confusion.  Kim Dickens as the chief detective on the case is sympathetic and smart, rather than the usual clich\u00E9, conclusion-jumping movie cop, and Missi Pyle as a slightly unhinged chat-show host provides a smart aside on how trial by television is becoming part of our culture. In the boys&amp;#039; camp, Tyler Perry as TV lawyer Tanner Bolt brings a welcome dose of laugh-out-loud humour without pricking the dramatic tension, while How I Met Your Mother&amp;#039;s Neil Patrick Harris puts in a subtly creepy turn as Amy&amp;#039;s stalkerish ex. In turns scary, funny and dramatic \u2013 with a mid-point reveal that will blow your socks off \u2013 the film carries the audience every step of the way. Although the plot is a bit (OK, a lot) far-fetched, the glimpses of archly knowing comedy scattered throughout keep it the right side of believable.  And while the ending doesn&amp;#039;t quite match the exhilaration of what&amp;#039;s gone before, it&amp;#039;s surprising and satisfying enough to keep you happy and leaving the cinema wanting to go back and watch it all over again. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.co.uk/entertainment/reviews/a30147/gone-girl-film-review/>