‹ All movies

The Rewatchables ·

Gone Girl

year 2014decade 10sdirector David Finchergenre Drama
host Bill Simmonshost Shea Serranohost Mallory Rubinhost Sean Fennessey
All 15 categories

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award · 1:23:10

Staying with Amy after everything is the right call

Shea Serrano: His hottest take of the whole podcast: he would be in, because she really loves him a lot, or if not will pretend to; she believes in love and did all of that stuff; and she is very clear with her rules, do these things and everything will be great, so if he knows what to do he will do what he is told.

The objections: Nick never thinks for a second that he loves her or she him; what makes the interview sequence so good is watching her watch him, the chin moment, the tie and watch she gave him, like the Scoot McNary (as transcribed) scene's theme of crafting him; she goes home because she has lost control of the Desi situation and sees proof she can still make Nick what she wanted, which is recognition rather than love, enough for these two; the price is being a prisoner in your own home for eighteen years.

The film

Gone Girl (2014)

Directed by David Fincher · Drama

149 minutes

IMDbLetterboxdJustWatch
Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Ben Affleck Nick Dunne, a professor
Rosamund Pike Amy Elliott Dunne , Nick's missing wife
Neil Patrick Harris Desi Collings, Amy's wealthy and obsessive ex-boyfriend
Tyler Perry Tanner Bolt, Nick's attorney
Carrie Coon Margo "Go" Dunne, Nick's twin sister
Kim Dickens Detective Rhonda Boney, the lead investigator on Amy's disappearance
Patrick Fugit Officer James Gilpin, Boney's partner
Missi Pyle Ellen Abbott, a cable TV host based on Nancy Grace
Emily Ratajkowski Andie Fitzgerald, Nick's mistress and student
Casey Wilson Noëlle Hawthorne, Nick and Amy's pregnant neighbor
Lola Kirke Greta, a young woman Amy meets at the Ozarks campground
Boyd Holbrook Jeff, a flirtatious man Amy meets at the Ozarks campground
Lisa Banes Marybeth Elliott, Amy's mother
Sela Ward Sharon Schieber, a network TV host
Scoot McNairy Tommy O'Hara, another former boyfriend of Amy's
Scott Takeda TV Producer
David Clennon Rand Elliott, Amy's father
Kathleen Rose Perkins Shawna Kelly

Everything from the episode

In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.

31:36

Most Rewatchable Scene

The reveal: Amy's 'I'm so much happier now that I'm dead' monologue

The reveal: Amy's 'I'm so much happier now that I'm dead' monologue

In the discussion (17)
Approx. transcript time · 00:31:36Read transcript
  • The first hour is watchable but rewatchability heats up around the big turn; the first nominee is Affleck coming home to find Amy missing and calling the police, with the neighbor across the street, the lady cop quietly suspicious because it is usually the husband, and the meticulousness of the search, which sets the film up as a whodunit it is not.
  • You have to instantly believe Rhonda Boney knows what she is doing, because she is a central figure and the last life raft for hoping someone keeps pursuing the case; her post-it notes on the blood spatter and the way she reads the plugged-in iron beside a dress that represents romance show something is up right away.
  • The outdoor Amy rally with protesters is a good scene with a good twist, shot wide so it feels like another bullshit vigil before the turn against Ben Affleck; Casey Wilson is great as Noelle, the extremely dumb pregnant neighbor seduced into Amy's plan, and the shots of Emily Ratajkowski mouthing words back at him and of Affleck fleeing cameras in slow motion like a lumbering old quarterback are smartly staged.
  • The big reveal, 'I am so much happier now that I'm dead', arrives one hour and seven minutes in, a point where Bloodsport is nearly over; Amy's monologue runs about five pages on IMDb though it is much shorter than the book's cool girl passage, and a first-time viewer briefly fears a dead-narrator movie before 'technically missing, soon to be presumed dead' lands.
  • Asked to read the bold paragraph aloud, she asks which part, protests that her dad listens to these podcasts, hates the 'befriend a local idiot, fake a murder' part because she feels bad for the local, and identifies the waxing passage as the part she is being made to read before reading it. — Mallory Rubin
  • The paragraph read aloud, waxing, canned beer and Adam Sandler movies, cold pizza at a size two, forging the man of her dreams and being the happiest couple they knew, is called the whole movie in one paragraph: a couple that learned to like the identity of being a couple more than being together; someone asks whether there were no salons in New York.
  • Taking issue with that reading, he recalls his father, not a speech-giver, sitting him down before his wedding to say that people change: Nick changes and becomes a less good partner, Amy becomes more insane with a history of manipulation involving Skeet Ulrich's character, and after the sparks of first meeting everyone has pitched a slightly more appealing version of themselves. — Sean Fennessey
  • The other key passage is 'you think I'd let him destroy me and end up happier than ever? No fucking way. He doesn't get to win. Grownups work for things, grownups pay, grownups suffer consequences.'
  • Teased that he has the happiest marriage anyone on the show knows and yet loves a film that is its opposite, he answers that it ends with her covered in blood coming back, and it is fun to watch and be glad that is not him right now. — Shea Serrano
  • Lola Kirk (as transcribed) is shouted out as the runaway Dionne Waiters (as transcribed) winner, especially the pool scene and her re-enactment of Affleck touching Emily's face; Nick's interview with the TV host played by the actress from The Fugitive (transcribed 'Cee LaWord') works like the unseen heist in Reservoir Dogs, cutting to the car where he is told how good he was.
  • Amy's return to Nick's house is called amazing: one host watching with Laramie, who had read the book, could not believe her stumbling out of the car covered in blood, with Affleck's 'you bitch' in her ear, the 'I'm not a quitter' lead-up to the interview and the twin sister crying devastated in the kitchen, an amazing Carrie Coon performance; that host's pick is Amy returning and everything after, while another much prefers the beginning.
  • Smaller early picks: the first police interview, where 'she's a voracious reader' reveals how little Nick knows about his wife, Boney's instant lack of trust, Gil asking whether they are really married and the blood-type question, which leaves the hosts admitting they do not know their own or their wives' blood types, or even their social security numbers.
  • The press conference: Nick's four words devoid of sincere emotion, the iconic pie-eating grin beside the poster, contrasted with her parents going into stump-speech mode with talking points; the parents sold her childhood and turned her into something others could digest, which earns some sympathy for Amy and explains both relationships.
  • The Desi murder has to be in the list as the most iconic, amazingly staged scene, with Amy untucking his shirt so the security cameras catch him tucking it back in, but some find it too unpleasant to rewatch; even on a seventh or eighth viewing, the throat slicing still shocks.
  • The reveal is the pick for several: one expected the familiar turn where the husband's face goes evil and the body is in the basement, and instead sat hands on head listening to her explain everything; 'America loves pregnant women' followed by calling Noelle a pregnant idiot, and the closing pregnancy reveal, tie it all neatly together.
  • The seduction scenes are also good: the meet-cute at the party, the proposal at the Amazing Amy book party, Nick posing as a journalist, really a men's-magazine writer; the reveal, another host's pick, references those fairy-tale early days as true and crucial, the foundation for believing in their love at all.
  • What makes the reveal great beyond the shock is the pride and vindication in Amy's meticulous steps, 300 diary entries written with different pens, sitting on the kitchen floor of a home in his hometown she never wanted, an IV draining her own blood while she reads a book, with a quick shot that Nick would clean poorly; one host would pay for just the first part as a rom-com, which is said to already exist as He's Just Not That Into You.
Share this discussion More Most Rewatchable Scene answers
48:36

What’s Aged the Best?

Nick's unshaven video-game swoon; Carrie Coon as the twin sister; the vigil selfie turning on Nick; the Nancy Grace c...

Nick's unshaven video-game swoon; Carrie Coon as the twin sister; the vigil selfie turning on Nick; the Nancy Grace character Ellen Abbott; the detective team of Kim Dickens and Patrick Fugit; the Mastermind board game and the other games; the Reznor and Ross spa-dread score; the meticulousness of Amy's plan; the side dick; Rosamund Pike's performance; the Twincest; Affleck's Mets hat; every small role perfectly cast; the twist

In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 00:48:36Read transcript
  • Affleck's unshaven video-game swoon has aged best for one host, a true-to-life moment that probably happened to him around 2006, bummed out in his living room with a laptop; Carrie Coon, in her first role, is believable as his twin, though ten years younger, and went on to star in The Leftovers.
  • The first gathering where the lady takes a selfie with them and then turns on them is really well done and has surely happened to Ben Affleck in real life; the Nancy Grace character Ellen Abbott and the detective team of Kim Dickens and grown-up Almost Famous star Patrick Fugit also hold up.
  • Fincher reportedly told press that the Mastermind board game Nick gives his sister was a red herring thrown in for his own amusement at critics scribbling it down; one host does not believe that for a second, arguing the games shown, Let's Make a Deal as they make their deal, Life with its meta line and a Ouija board as her talking from the dead, are all on purpose, and Mastermind is a game about entrapment and being smarter than your opponent; a confession of cheating at board games follows.
  • Fincher briefed Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (transcribed 'Tannicus') after a spa visit where music meant to relax him felt creepy, wanting passive music that instills dread, and the result feels like a spa where you might get stabbed in the aorta mid-massage; with Social Network it is an all-time two-for-two, Reznor's scores are argued to rival Nine Inch Nails in his legacy, with the ER episode that used Closer floated as his origin, and the Desi murder cue feels like it emanates from inside your chest, the hardest left turn the film takes.
  • The meticulousness of the plan has aged well, pouring wine on herself, untucking his shirt and knowing where every security camera is.
  • She disputes that: Amy's meticulous nature governs everything with Nick, plotted since she saw him with Andy in the snow replicating the lip wipe and sugar cloud from their own origin story, down to the 'kill self?' calendar entry, whereas the Desi material is purely reactive and instinctual, which is why she thinks the end of the movie does not work; Amy thought Desi would be another puppet, realized she was the prisoner in the dollhouse he built, and her way out is sloppy. — Mallory Rubin
  • The counter: she either went to Desi's knowing what she would do or decided once she lost her money, parked as an unanswerable question; Nick's woodshed line in the interview shows her he can keep up with her; anyone with eight weeks could fake a death, but she devised an instant exit without implicating herself, though she had already lost weight, cut and dyed her hair and built up rope marks on her wrists, so twenty-something days had passed.
  • One side holds that she got away with it only because the FBI agents should be jailed, not because she did a good job; the other sees an acid-dipped commentary from a female writer on believing women and survivors and the FBI's historical approach to trauma, something fraught and complicated inside an otherwise whirling thriller.
  • The side dick has aged best for one host, and nobody mentions that Desi's is visible too when she slides off him; Rosamund Pike's performance as Amy Dunn (as transcribed), which will live forever, is another host's answer to every category; the Twincest reference was followed by years of Twincest on Game of Thrones.
  • Affleck putting on a Mets hat in the airport, refusing the Yankees hat Fincher had in his head, has aged fantastically and the fight between them is great; the nitpick is that he should have worn a Cardinals hat given his Cardinals shirt, unless he bought it at the airport.
  • Also the musical score, awe-inspiring when it kicks in at Desi's murder; every single small role is perfectly cast, which everyone agrees has aged well; and the twist itself.
Share this discussion More What’s Aged the Best? answers
59:28

What’s Aged the Worst?

The shock value of the big twist, which cannot be recaptured on rewatch; the internet outrage reaction to the movie; ...

The shock value of the big twist, which cannot be recaptured on rewatch; the internet outrage reaction to the movie; the brutality of the Desi murder; Neil Patrick Harris's performance; Wesley Morris's negative review; Bill Simmons saying Neil Patrick Harris was bad

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:59:28Read transcript
  • The big twist has aged worst in one sense: in the theater, where a guy audibly went 'oh, shit', it was the best part if you had not read the book, and that shock cannot be recaptured on a tenth viewing, though you appreciate the details in a new way, like rereading Goblet of Fire knowing Voldemort rises from the cauldron, which is the whole point of the podcast; it belongs in both categories.
  • The internet reacting to the movie has aged badly: one of the first cases of people pulling other things into a piece of art and arguing outrage over it, as now with the new Tarantino movie, when to one host it is a movie about a crazy lady who framed her husband and came back; another counters that using criticism to understand society through art is reasonable and happens on this podcast, and it was the 'how dare you, this is irresponsible' tone that grated.
  • Gillian Flynn has engaged the criticism of the story's sexual politics and of Amy, as she did when the book came out; her boiled-down response is that women can be murderous and violent too, anyone can be a psycho, an inversion the hosts find compelling; neither Nick nor Amy is a good person, and Nick's cheating does not entitle her to frame him, kill Desi and frame him for rape, or bring a child into that household, the baby being perhaps the most fucked-up thing she does.
  • The Desi murder is brutal and has aged worst for one host from a rewatchability standpoint; in the book she drugs him with sleeping pills and kills him off the page with a knife grabbed in the kitchen rather than a box cutter, less premeditated and violent, and Patrick Fugit's line asking how she got her hands on a box cutter is relished.
  • Neil Patrick Harris sucks, capital S, for one host: a sitcom actor with no chemistry, out-acted in his scenes and not a Fincher actor, with the other How I Met Your Mother guy Josh Radner (as transcribed), Zach Braff or Tobey Maguire suggested instead; others argue the lack of chemistry is the point, that he evinces weak, privileged, waspy cornball well, and that Amy is supposed to outclass him.
  • Wesley Morris's Grantland review is nominated, with one host eager to make fun of him: brilliant, sophisticated criticism nominated for a National Magazine Award, with a bad opinion inside it, that the movie is not good; another plans to argue with him for an hour at Rembrandt's wedding after three drinks.
  • A late addition, written in two sets of notes: what has aged worst is Bill Simmons saying that Neil Patrick Harris was bad.
  • Earlier, during the scenes, the Desi murder was already called too unpleasant to enjoy, grotesque despite being exceptionally well done.
Share this discussion More What’s Aged the Worst? answers
1:07:53

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

Missy Pyle (Ellen Abbott); Patrick Fugit; Kathleen Rose Perkins (Shauna Kelly)

Missy Pyle (Ellen Abbott); Patrick Fugit; Kathleen Rose Perkins (Shauna Kelly)

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:07:53Read transcript
  • Patrick Fugit, the grown-up Almost Famous guy, is the first suggestion, though there are a handful of candidates; Missy Pyle, who plays the Nancy Grace type Ellen Abbott, is a that-lady in a lot of stuff; Boyd Holbrook is in the movie for one minute and has since transcended that-guy status, though seeing him here takes you back to when you would do meth with him.
  • The Nancy Grace lady wins one host over since he had no idea of her name; another had Kathleen Rose Perkins as Shauna Kelly, familiar from Episodes, Colony and You're the Worst, someone who should be a big comic actress and is great in her one minute; Casey Wilson is too famous as an SNL cast member.
Share this discussion More The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award answers
1:08:37

The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award

Casey Wilson

Casey Wilson

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:08:37Read transcript
Share this discussion More The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award answers
1:09:49

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

Emily Ratajkowski; Lola Kirk (as transcribed); Tyler Perry

Emily Ratajkowski; Lola Kirk (as transcribed); Tyler Perry

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:09:49Read transcript
  • It is a crowded field: Tyler Perry qualifies, a candidate is noted as being in only about four scenes, Casey Wilson, and one host's personal choice Lola Kirk (as transcribed), Jemima Kirk's sister from Girls also seen in Mozart in the Jungle; Scoot McNary (as transcribed) as Tommy O'Hara, who tells Nick the whole story of their encounter in one harrowing, intense scene with the 'you do know your wife' line, is a literal heat check, something he keeps doing in ninety-second roles.
  • Another host's obvious pick is Emily: her entire performance, with sincere admiration, is standing in the snow so Ben Affleck can rub her lips, sitting on a couch so he can take her dress off, mouthing 'fuck you' at the vigil, then dressing in a schoolgirl-innocent outfit for her press conference, so there is weirdly range in it; she is also fodder for the incredible underwear exchange between Nick and Go.
  • Final positions: Emily is one pick, another goes Lola, and a third likes Tyler Perry's likable, funny performance ending with 'she got you, what are you going to do', which Wesley's piece sums up as one long 'y'all white people are crazy'.
  • Earlier, during the scenes, Lola Kirk (as transcribed) was declared the runaway Dionne Waiters (as transcribed) winner unless someone wanted to have the Tyler Perry argument, for the pool scene and her memory of Affleck touching Emily's face.
Share this discussion More The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance answers
1:15:48

Apex Mountain

Rosamund Pike; Cape Girardeau, Missouri

Rosamund Pike; Cape Girardeau, Missouri

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:15:48Read transcript
  • Rosamund Pike is the definition of Apex Mountain here.
  • Fincher's own apex was decided to be Social Network, the best movie of the decade for one host though the answer changes with every rewatch, which another disputes, with Benjamin Button the one nobody understands because it is not perverted; this was emphatically not Neil Patrick Harris's apex because he sucked in it.
  • Mountain Dew might be at its apex: amid the junk food of the makeover montage, mini donuts, a hamburger, Coke, Cheetos and Fritos, the camera lingers on the Dew poured into a glass so the spit is visible with the bottle still in frame, and Amy's satisfied sip signals she will let no slight go unpunished; Cape Girardeau (transcribed 'Cape Gerardo'), Missouri, is definitely at its apex.
Share this discussion More Apex Mountain answers
1:23:10

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

Staying with Amy after everything is the right call

Staying with Amy after everything is the right call

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:23:10Read transcript
  • His hottest take of the whole podcast: he would be in, because she really loves him a lot, or if not will pretend to; she believes in love and did all of that stuff; and she is very clear with her rules, do these things and everything will be great, so if he knows what to do he will do what he is told. — Shea Serrano
  • The objections: Nick never thinks for a second that he loves her or she him; what makes the interview sequence so good is watching her watch him, the chin moment, the tie and watch she gave him, like the Scoot McNary (as transcribed) scene's theme of crafting him; she goes home because she has lost control of the Desi situation and sees proof she can still make Nick what she wanted, which is recognition rather than love, enough for these two; the price is being a prisoner in your own home for eighteen years.
Share this discussion More The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award answers
1:37:01

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

A ten-episode Netflix series, structured as two five-episode seasons

A ten-episode Netflix series, structured as two five-episode seasons

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:37:01Read transcript
  • Could this be a ten-episode Netflix show: yes, but it would have to be two five-episode seasons; asked whether they would rather Fincher made this or Mindhunter (transcribed 'Manhunter'), the view is that Mindhunter is the better idea for a series while Gone Girl is the better idea for a movie and works great as one.
Share this discussion More Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake answers
1:40:47

Who Won the Movie?

David Fincher, shared with Rosamund Pike

David Fincher, shared with Rosamund Pike

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:40:47Read transcript
  • The initial answers are Rosamund, Fincher, as one host always answers for Fincher movies, and Bleaker the Cat (as transcribed); the Fincher case is that this is his most successful movie ever, in 2014 when movies were no longer successful at the box office, after which he dropped the mic, went to television and got all the money in the world from Netflix.
  • Fincher is obsessed with Alfred Hitchcock, speaking at length about studying his films in the documentary about the Hitchcock book (transcribed 'Hitchcock True Foe'), and this is a Hitchcock movie with more blood, sex and dick: a striking blonde, a scurrilous tall handsome movie actor and a changing sense of whom to trust, his ode to those films.
  • The Hitchcock argument convinces another voice; the Rosamund holdout thinks the part was so incredible that four or five actresses would have scored at least fifty points with it, but she is exceptional, so maybe it is a fair win for them and for Bleaker the Cat.
Podcast choices
Speaker not identified
Rosamund Pike
Speaker not identified
David Fincher
Speaker not identified
David Fincher
Share this discussion More Who Won the Movie? answers