Gone Girl - Fincher's biggest mistake

I completely disagree. Gone Girl was an excellent film. I thought the story was great and suspenseful. The characters were well written and well developed and the performances were great. It should have been nominated for picture, director and screenplay. I think Flynn did a great job with the screenplay.

I completely agree with you Steve.

From the original post: "The script was flawed. The story was weak. It was not a Fincher story. It was cheap. It lacked character dimensions. It lacked suspense. It lacked taste. It lacked good dialogue. It lacked good structure. It lacked sense."

I don't think I could disagree with these statements any more than is humanly possible. I though the script, story, characters, dialogue, structure and sense were all very strong, and the suspense was astonishingly perfect IMO.

This is the main blunder:

If the cops knew about Desi, why didn't they contact him?
After all, Amy had a restraining order placed on him.

This is why it isn't a blunder:

1. We don't know if they didn't contact Desi but even if they did, it wouldn't matter. If they contacted Desi before Amy met him, he wouldn't know anything other than what's on TV and a search of his properties would yield no results. If they contacted Desi after Amy met him, both would thwart off the cops by feigning Desi's innocence, which was the stated plan for their future after leaving the country.

The other guy (Scoot McNairy) who Amy accused of things also would yield no result for the cops. Considering Desi didn't do anything, it doesn't establish any hole in the plot. You might ask why didn't they find Desi sooner but again, they would've found nothing.

2. Nick's inconsistent statements make him out to be a liar as do his behaviors subsequent to Amy's disappearance. All evidence points to Nick. There's not a whole lot reason to dig deep elsewhere. They would do routine checks on other possibilities, and none would yield any results for them... certainly none as strong as the main suspect, Nick Dunne.

Still, he could been given a restraining order for stalking. I think he wasn't questioned in the movie. It was shown in The Perfect Guy. Just watch it!

Desi had a restraining order against him but whether the cops questioned him or not wouldn't make a difference considering he didn't know anything. The film itself never shows Desi questioned, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. But as said before, it makes no difference because Nick was the main and most logical suspect. He lied on multiple occasions, has evidenced tied to him and runs consistent the proper suspect in such cases.

If you saw the TV miniseries The Night Of, the main suspect had the opportunity, evidence and behavior consistent with guilt. Sure, there were other angles the cops could explore, but the way they see it, their strongest case is against the person closest to the victim at the time of death and with the evidence against them. If those other angles don't present strong possibilities, the police stick to their main suspect.

Whatever. Thanks for writing!

In the book, the cops talk to Desi before Nick does. Desi lives with his mother, who provides an alibi. Nick tries to talk the cops into investigating Desi further. The evidence is against Nick at this point, and the cops focus on Nick instead.