Good Baby Good?

It’s judgment day for Ben Affleck. Though we think he’s a genius, the rest of the world has been skeptical, citing Gigli and Bennifer as the mistakes that started his artistic fall from grace. Gone Baby Gone has been called the movie that could save his career by critics and by the director himself. Now that the reviews are in, how did our boy fare?

At the Globe, Ty Burr is so impressed by the movie, he forgives Affleck of all his sins against cinema.

Welcome home, Ben Affleck – all is forgiven. Yes, even “Gigli.”. . . [A]s a director, Affleck has come through with a sharp, morally ambiguous piece of pulp crackerjack.

That’s certainly encouraging. How does James Verniere at the Herald feel?

Set beside “Mystic River” and “The Departed,” “Gone Baby Gone” completes an unholy trinity of Boston-based crime dramas. It’s great baby great – and a giant leap for the career of Boston’s own leading-man-turned-director Ben Affleck.

Maybe David Wildman at the Dig has some beef with the movie star?

With his latest release he’s rediscovered the perfect role for himself, one that he probably should have been playing all along: the guy behind the camera. Ben deserves some serious credit for the skill, taste and inventiveness he’s shown directing and adapting this Dennis Lehane novel for the screen.

For any skeptics who remain, we’ll let you know what we thought of Gone Baby Gone on Monday.