"Gone Baby Gone" - D+

Hey look everybody! It's a movie with Casey Affleck, and it's directed by his big brother, Ben.

Wow; it's even based on a book by that guy who wrote "Mystic River." Remember that one? That's the one with Sean Penn and a bunch of other people ... Clint Eastwood directed it. It wasn't great, but it wasn't too terrible. Remember?

Well then that means this new one should be good, right? Right?

Er, well .....

The wrap sheet: Casey's this detective (of sorts) hanging around in his old Boston neighbor. He and his live-in love interest have a gift for finding the undesirables in their community .... people who skip out on responsibilities to their families or creditors or whoever.

And when a child in his hood goes missing, the kid's aunt and uncle get the dynamic duo to work their magic. As Casey and company get deeper into the case, there are more twists and turns than they ever expected.

Danger, action and intrigue ensue.

What the @*&#!: Ok; there are probably some out there with this as their next request on Netflix or Blockbuster or whatever. Trust me, I have no intentions of spoiling any of it for you. I might, however, help you juggle your viewing priorities.

This movie is nowhere near as good as half a dozen other cop, kidnapping or caper pics that you could get. It is sluggish, boring and unimaginative. There is really very little redeeming value in sitting through this one over many other similarly themed outings.

That's not to say that Casey's completely terrible; in fact, he does a fairly good job here. And Ed Harris brings it with the normal intensity that he shares in nearly every role.

So what's the problem? The story, that's what's wrong here. It's irreparably flawed in its logical progression. I haven't read the book to compare source material and movie, but it's such a shame that this many talents couldn't come together for something a little more substantive.

And there's the little matter of the silly overuse of swearing. I mean, there might have been fewer f-bombs here than in "The Departed," but I seemed to notice them a lot more in this one. It's like stumbling across a bunch of prepubescents sharing their wealth of questionable phrases. It's a terrible distraction that adds to the weakness of the picture.

In fact, go get "The Departed" instead of this if you haven't watched it already ....

Grade: D+ (boring baby boring ... )