Netflix Streaming Hit Is Every Man’s Worst Nightmare

By Jonathan Klotz
| Published 20 seconds ago

It’s 12 years old, it’s been off and on different streaming services over the years, and yet, David Fincher’s 2014 hit Gone Girl is again in the Netflix Top Ten. There’s something about the story of a missing wife that tickle the true crime center of the brain. That’s before the first twist, and then the second one, and then a few more on top of that. By the time the credits roll, you’ll be horrified and impressed in equal measure. 

Every Man’s Worst Nightmare

Gone Girl starts with the disappearance of Amy (Rosamund Pike). Her husband, Nick (Ben Affleck) is immediately considered the prime suspect. It doesn’t help that there’s signs of a struggle in their kitchen, the small fact that he really was having an affair with one of his students played by Emily Ratajkowski, and the complete breakdown of their relationship has left him feeling, at best, completely numb inside. At worst, he thinks Amy has set him up. 

No one’s listening to anything Nick says or does in his own defense. What he says is less important than how he says it. His inability to get with the program and be the grieving, distraught husband every major news network wants to interview is more damning than all of the circumstantial evidence the police dig up. It’s everyone’s nightmare to be accused of a crime that isn’t being taken seriously. 

It’s also why Gone Girl works as well as it does. Everyone involved in the disappearance of Amy is a horrible person, with the lone exception of Nick’s sister, Margo (Carrie Coon), including Nick and Amy herself. No one’s listening to Nick’s defense, and no one listened to Amy. 

Every Woman’s Worst Nightmare

David Fincher was working off very strong source material when putting together one of the darkest, bleakest thrillers about a marriage falling apart. Author Gillian Flynn wrote the screenplay to her own blockbuster 2012 novel herself. It’s a testament to the skill and craft of everyone involved that in an era when adult thrillers were fading, the film pulled in $370 million at the box office. 

It’s Rosamund Pike’s best movie, arguably Ben Affleck’s best performance, and in the last 12 years, nothing’s come close. A wave of similar hit thriller novels came to the big screen including The Girl on the Train, but nothing hit the sweet spot of edge of your seat “what is going on here” with wild twists and characters you’ll love to hate. Or love to love. Gone Girl is a rorschach test of a film and you’ll end up seeing what you want to see. 

The success that the film has had on streaming isn’t up for debate. On every streaming service it’s been a part of Gone Girl has been a hit. True crime podcasts rising in popularity over the last decade has helped the film remain on the top of the most-watched lists. Those haven’t dipped in popularity as sadly, every year brings fresh material for the legions of podcasters out there to pour over. Gone Girl will always be relevant. 

Gone Girl is currently streaming on Netflix.