Gone, baby, gone

Amanda McCready is a 4-year-old who has disappeared from her Boston home. The police make little headway in solving the case, so the girl's aunt hires Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro, private detectives. They freely admit that they have little experience with this type of case, but the family wants them for two reasons: they're not cops and they know the tough neighborhood in which they all live. As the case progresses, Patrick and Angie must face area drug dealers, gangs and pedophiles. When they finally solve the case, they are faced with a moral dilemma that tears them apart.

That's the blurb from the studio. And as far as it goes, it's accurate. But it misses much: profanity-laced, the film is based on a book by Dennis Lehane, and it misses being a good movie, for me, because it concentrates on violence and cursing.

Morgan Freeman makes a cameo appearance as a police captain riven by a guilty conscience, and airmails it. Perhaps this is one of those roles he takes simply because it is offered and will add to his resume; there is a rumor that he is trying to become the actor with the greatest number of entries in his filmography. If that is so, this is an entry hardly worth the effort, and one made with hardly an effort.

Ed Harris does a credible job as a detective, but his character isn't up to the challenge. The New York Times reviewer liked the movie, but I didn't like quite as much.