Gone Baby Gone

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Missing persons detectives Patrick (Casey Affleck) and Angie (Michelle Monaghan) set aside protocol and their romantic relationship to assist Boston cops in their search for abducted 4-year-old Amanda. Taking advantage of sources who wouldn't talk to police, Patrick and Angie discover secrets about the young girl's family, local drug dealers and the police department's chief investigator (Ed Harris).

Big question: Can director Ben Affleck—yep, that's right—assert himself with his first feature and not seem like he's remaking the last adaptation of a Dennis Lehane novel, Clint Eastwood's "Mystic River"?

Catch it: Not as stylish but ultimately more haunting than "Mystic River," "Gone Baby Gone" is a powerful exploration of the gray areas between means and ends. It's a cop drama, yes, but exists outside the law's sense of right and wrong—the film is far more interested in how people create their own definitions of where one ends and the other begins.

Skip it: If you're a devoted fan of "Wife Swap," which is what Helene (Amy Ryan) is watching when her daughter is taken. Take that as a lesson: Nothing good ever comes out of watching "Wife Swap."

Bottom line: As he showed in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," Casey Affleck can carry a movie without flinching beneath the weight. His brother could have drawn more from Patrick and Angie's relationship, but he delivers a moving elegy for black-and-white morality in a world more focused on results than conscience.

Bonus: Not long after Amanda (Madeline O'Brien) is taken, her family grieves while watching an episode of "Jerry Springer" called "Uncle Pimp and Cupid." It sure sounds consolatory to us!

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