Gossip (2000)

i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

The idea. The reasonable performances. The cruelty and the structure pf gossip. And, sure, the fall. As good points for a film who has the teenagers as basic target. Without be a great film, its idea working. In decent manner. The only sins - at the level of details.

James Marsden and Lena Headey start a rumor that Joshua Jackson had sex with Kate Hudson in this forgettable outing that isn't actually a bad film.Gossip is well made film featuring good performances from a pretty strong teen cast. The main characters using gossip as a sociological experiment is an interesting idea and is made the most of as we see how quickly and totally things get out of control. The film does lose a lot of goodwill with a lazy twist ending that provides easy answers and will change the way you look at the film on second viewing, I'd suggest for the worst.As mentioned above, the film is about three room mates, Derrick, Cathy and Travis who are all attending college together. Inspired by a communications lecture on Gossip (because of course everyone pays attention during college lectures) she decides to start a rumor and then track how it spreads. They go to a party and see Beau (Joshua Jackson) making out with save it till marriage virgin Naomi (Kate Hudson). So they decide to spread the rumor that the two slept together.The rumor quickly gets out of control, and people start believing that Naomi was raped. Unfortunately for Beau, she became unconscious that night and believes the rumor too, so Beau is up- on rape charges. From there this actually is a pretty good look at date rape and consequences. However this is ruined by the "twist" ending, which actually throws all of that insight away in order to tell a story of complicated revenge.Look. I give this a tick because it is well made and stylistically directed by Davis Guggenheim. It looks at serious themes, and for much of the duration, does these themes justice. However the ending is either to make or break the film for you. And I would suggest it would break the film for most viewers. However, if you were dissed b y the ending, watch the film again. It actually is a different experience the second time around and it is not terrible as a revenge flick.Anyway, not bad, but could have been infinitely better had it stuck to the issues of date rape and gossip culture. Give it a look, it will suck you in, but be prepared for an uninspired conclusion.

Derrick Webb (James Marsden), Cathy Jones (Lena Headey) and Travis (Norman Reedus) are close college friends and roommates. They are in a communications class with Professor Goodwin (Eric Bogosian). For their final project, the trio ponders whether to start a rumor and track the progress. Naomi Preston (Kate Hudson) from a rich influential family is known to be a virgin who's saving herself. She's with boyfriend Beau Edson (Joshua Jackson). At a club, Sheila tells Jones about a rumor of her sleeping with professor Goodwin and suggests the source is Naomi. Derrick happens to spy that Naomi passed out while making out and Beau leaves. The trio decides to start a rumor that Naomi actually had sex with Beau. The gossip starts to change into Naomi may have been raped by Beau. Detective Kelly (Sharon Lawrence) investigates and eventually arrests Beau. Jones wants to come clean but Derrick claims to be not sure what actually happened that night.I don't care about any of these characters. Jones should have started out nicer so the audience can really pull for her. It would also be helpful to show Derrick helping Jones and Travis with his money. There are too many things like the club or the massive college apartment or the people or countless trash can fires that seem too fake. The basic idea has potential but it never takes off for me. It has some good turns as a thriller. The believability is never that high. It gets really bad when nobody even listens to Jones. It's kind of stupid. It's a conspiracy for no reason. Jones could easily get Kelly to listen to her if she drops Derrick's name. Why are cops always so stupid? This is written like a sitcom where if people just talked and listened, all the problems would go away. The movie keeps turning and twisting. At some point, the turns becomes meaningless because I didn't care about the characters in the first place.

Recently, construction on my home forced me to spend a few days at my 21 year old daughter's apartment which she shares with her equally 21 year old roommate. Hmmm... Reflectively, that's a pretty good premise for a light comedy. Or, a gritty reality show. I'm sure I'll see it next year, after somebody reads this and works it into a million dollars I won't share, but you saw it here first, folks! Moving on. This brief sojourn afforded me several nights alone, left to shift for myself. Evidently, 21 year old girls go out EVERY night. Naturally, I thought to while away some time with a fine feature film.Enter culture shock. It seems that young women of this age possess very little of what their parents would consider watchable, let alone entertaining. However, sandwiched between classic Disney films, Bum Fights and a preponderance of films starring Orlando Bloom and Silent Bob, I found "Gossip".Deciding to give it a try, I spent the next hour and a half or so with a growing feeling of nausea. This is a very disturbing film. The premise seems harmless enough. Three college students (James Marsden, Lena Hedley, Norman Reedus) decide to start an ugly rumor on campus for a "class project". They claim that a "friend", Beau (Joshua Jackson) had sexual intercourse with an unconscious date, Naomi (Kate Hudson) a notoriously virginal girl. Vicious as this seems, it remains relatively harmless until well meaning interference by other students convinces Naomi she has been "date raped", and this baseless, thoughtless lie becomes a criminal matter.As a parent, this is a Class A nightmare. I STILL worry, much to my daughter's disgust. But, I also have a son, and the hellish circumstances faced by innocent Beau and his family resonates as well.The performances of all of the young up and coming actors, none of whom, except Hudson, I have seen before, is earnest and intense, especially as the situation spirals out of control. Edward James Olmos is, as always, utterly convincing as the detective assigned to the case.What I find so disturbing about the film is that it fails to make the point that gossip and rumors like these are not only ugly, they can be utterly destructive. Even if the subject is cleared in the end, the psychological damage to him, the girl, and both of their families is ongoing. I happen to be a big believer in justice, and I would have liked to have seen the three students responsible seriously punished, criminal records of their own being the least of the consequences.I am also disturbed by the opinions of others regarding this film. Comments that solely praise the beauty of an actress or the excellent directing, and say NOTHING about the subject. In fact, one went so far as to state that this is just the way things are on a college campus. How sad is that? How far has our society's moral standards fallen as to brush this off as nothing unusual? This "Life Sucks.. So What?" attitude is more frightening than the threat of nuclear war. Dress it up any way you want, "Gossip" is a revisiting of the Salem Witch Trials. The general consensus that no one seems to care, or feel that the instigators deserve vilification, at the least, both sickens and scares the hell out of me.Aside from that, there were serious reality flaws in the script. Forensic evidence, for one, or the lack of even more than a brief mention of it. The "evil" of Marsden's Derek revealed as if it were justification, both for the initial lie and the subsequent actions of the other two conspirators. The quick, and almost too pat ending.This film had an opportunity to make a powerful statement about the effect these kinds of vicious head games have on the innocent. A good film can go far in the changing of perceptions, attitudes, even actions of those who watch it. Unfortunately, "Gossip" fails in its chance. I give this film an overall six because of the dedication of the cast. Other than that, I cannot recommend this film as anything other than a sad, sad commentary on the lack of moral standards of the up and coming generation. God help us if they don't wake up.