Gossip (2000)

I recently seen this movie and I must say I was more than impressed. I was totally in shock when I discovered the final ending to the story. Yes Kate Hudson's performance is not some of her best work. (The Skelton Key) But all in all the rumor mill started by 3 college students. They want to see how starting a rumor about someone will change when it gets back to them as a class experiment. Not realizing that words even said innocently can hurt and destroy peoples lives. This is all I will say about this film for now except to say don't let the anyone influence you watch this MOVIE yourself. Then you can make up your own mind. As for me I rated this an 8/10.

Fmovies: Based on R2 DVD 87 min.

Gossip starts off well, an interesting premise, pretty people a suggestion of a good thriller to come. Alas somewhere around the 60 minute mark the script writer must have run out of pencils. The story takes a witless fantasy turn that left me feeling cheated.

The so called alternate ending is just a longer and more unrealistic one.

5/10 catch it on TV

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 j

Gossip fmovies. Telephone...

...Telegram...

...and tell a woman

Apologies for that old fashioned joke but it did make me smile and apologies too that anyone might think it's actually true because I know fine well from bitter personal experience that idle or malicious gossip and two faced chit chat that can affect a life is just as likely to be started by males as much by females . I guess everyone already knew that ?

Interesting to note though that women like this film slightly more than men . I have to confess that I wasn't too keen on it . Now this had nothing to do with sexism and had everything to do with the way the story was developed which centres around rumours of a rape and before you can blink the rumours have spread all over college campus and a student finds himself facing charges . Other reviewers have rightly pointed out that the story is entirely dumb so I won't bother reiterating the points they've raised except to say " What about forensic evidence ? for a charge to be brought " . I also have a problem that it's a movie that's entirely made for a teen market which means the cast is young and good looking and we have to endure the MTV type of filming which totally negates any type of drama

Actually, I started watching this movie with my hopes down, ready to be bored to death and my only motive was that Norman Reedus being in it. Its IMDb rating of 5.6 is a HUGE understatement and is possibly preventing lots of people from watching it. The movie is quite interesting from the very beginning, and midway through it you start to feel as if you're in the college that the "rumor" has been spread around. The acting is outstanding and believable though the plot is a bit far-fetched, but it still is one of the best movies I've watched and in my opinion it deserves a nice big 8. If you like surprise endings and thrillers and you're having second thoughts about spending one and a half hours of your life on this movie, forget them and DO IT. Your time will not be wasted.

This was -over-all- a pretty decent movie. Nothing that would make my favorite shelf, but a movie I could definitely watch a few times a year. It's got an interesting plot and story-line, and most of the actors were top notch.

Now that being said, there were two things that kept this movie from being an excellent movie. The first one was Lena Headey; her acting was mediocre at best, and in certain parts, down right awful. But this normally wouldn't be enough to knock off too many points, but the second problem...

The ending -while decent- was definitely one that required you to suspend your disbelief. It leaves you wondering, "What was the point?".

But the acting by James Marsden, and Norman Reedus were amazing, and almost make up for it. Marsden plays the manipulative liar, who really isn't a bad guy, one who almost leaves you feeling a certain amount of pity at the end. Reedus was amazing; probably one of my favorite performances from him. The shy, SoHo, bohemian artist thing works really well for him. The interaction between the two men are some of the most interesting parts of the movie, and show the dominant/subservient or leader/follower relationship perfectly.

Passable performances by Joshua Jackson and Kate Hudson. Nothing stellar, but nothing to complain about either.

Again... Decent movie, one that could have been a hit with a few tweaks, and a different actress for Jones, but nothing that will make a 'favorites' list any time soon.