Film Clip: Gone

A young woman in Portland, Oregon, (Amanda Seyfried, in a virtual one-woman show) comes home from work to find her sister (Emily Wickersham) mysteriously missing. She’s convinced that the man who abducted and nearly killed her a year ago is back; but she has a history of mental instability, and the police don’t believe she was ever abducted in the first place—and they certainly don’t believe her now. Allison Burnett’s script is far-fetched, devoid of surprises, and hardly a recruiting poster for the Portland Police Department (they are portrayed as insensitive, slow-witted and no match for a determined short-order waitress on her day off). Director Heitor Dhalia huffs and puffs to keep up the suspense, and the movie lurches from scene to scene. Seyfried does what she can, but she doesn’t get much help. J.L.