The Gone Girl missing link

                (besides Amy)

Let me tell you something, no one is going to walk out of the theater after seeing Gone Girl and feel disappointed or like they didn't get their money's worth.  Better words to describe how one might feel while stumbling out of the dark theater might be: disturbed, horrified, paranoid... maybe even a bit nauseous.

I went to see the movie with my no longer practicing book club; we read the novel in the summer of 2012.  We accidentally decided to see the movie on bargain Tuesdays which was an added bonus and encouraged me to splurge for the $4.50 Diet Coke, meaning I didn't save a dime overall.  

I remember reading the novel at the pool in Orlando, where I was vacationing with my family.  That was the year we went to all four Disney parks in one day.  I found this to be an amazing accomplishment.  My sister calls it the worst day of her life.  (Worst day at Disney has to be better than a day anywhere else, right?!) I remember enjoying the book, and being shocked several times, just like the movie goers were. I also remember that there was a line of the novel that completely haunted me, so I of course wrote it in the notes section of my Blackberry to insure I wouldn't forget it. 

Fastforward two years and a couple months, and I'm thoroughly enjoying the movie with my friends on a full stomach of froyo for dinner.  I truly believe that because we hadn't read the book recently, we had less to criticize in the movie and could enjoy it more.  Sometimes I feel like I'm so loyal to a book that I don't enjoy the movies based on the book, instead I'm making mental notes of what doesn't line up with the book while I watch the movie.  Maybe this will be a lesson for me: watch the movie two years later.  

There are only two complaints that I have about Gone Girl the movie...  

1.  I had nightmares that night.

2.  My favorite line from the book would have been a perfect end line of the movie.  PERFECT.  Ben Affleck would say it, and the movie goer would have felt a complete conclusion (and of course still think they're totally f-ed up).

So, of course, I had to go home and find that line because I couldn't remember it.  I don't own the book, I borrowed.  Instead I had to find my Blackberry from 2012, charge it overnight, and Wednesday morning I was delighted to see the best line from the book (besides when Go said, "There's your wood bitch" haha) and confirm that the movie was missing something major.  

There it is!  I truly believe this would have been the coup de grâce.  

It makes me think, too... how many people stay with their "forever antagonist" because that's just what they know?  The reality of that, is frightening.