Customer Reviews

Gossip (Widescreen/Full Screen)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

The 2000 film "Gossip" which was not mainstream or even that much publicized stars attractive young people- James Marsden, Joshua Jackson (from Dawson's Creek)and Kate Hudson. The movie is a bit of a thriller and teen angst drama about the negative consequences of gossip and the evil it can produce. Set in a college, three roomates decide to spread a vicious rumor about a rich girl (Kate Hudson) who gets drunk at a club party. The rumor is that she was date raped by her date. This results in dangerous problems for many of the characters as slowly the truth is developed. The movie may lack some substance as it attempts to be a serious drama about the evil nature of gossip. Like other reviewers have claimed, it's a bit of an intense and dark soap opera in which good looking people set out to harm others. In this case, it's a lot like Cruel Intentions which was in itself a modern take on the French series "Dangerous Liasions".

The movie is very dark. Some of the mystery is vague as we don't know what to believe is true and what is just gossip. Eventually we discover that James Marsden's character Derek Webb is the real villain and the cause of all the trouble. He had been the high school boyfriend of Kate Hudson's character "the poor little rich girl" as he described her. He raped her and again at the party. His lying and scheming comes to an end as he is caught red-handed in confession at the end of the film. The movie is a pretty adult film and not to be seen by too young an audience. I believe there is enough R rated material here to indicate that is intended to be viewed by a mature audience- violence, (...)and language. The college classroom scenes are by far what most attracted me to the story. It is proof that people do love gossip and rumor, as our society does today, but it dehumanizes and corrupts. The battle of the (...)discussion is also quite interesting. But the movie's heart lies in the fact that Derek Webb is a young man we know all too well exists out there and may be getting away with crimes. I hope this movie opens people's eyes about gossip and about lies and how to value the truth which is the greatest human gift of all.

This is one of my favorite movies, it's well directed and has a good message at the end and James Marsden is so hot. I'm wondering why people found it confusing because it was pretty straight forward... I'm in my 20's and don't get the comparison of it being a "12-17" crowd thing, it makes me wonder if people who say that even went to college...like drinking and partying doesn't happen..get real. I think the biggest problem is the touchy issue of the rumor being spread having to do with date rape. Overall the movie is worth seeing, the acting was great and I also liked watching the commentary.

While the premise of the movie was interesting, and the cast was good looking, it's a movie you might want to see once but not again.

'Derek', 'Jones' (the only female) and 'Travis' live in Derek's overly lush apartment with rent that had to range in the high thousands every month ('Travis' doesn't even have the money to pay his side of the rent.). Though we're supposed to be convinced that everything is covered by Derek's trust fund.

They're college students (Freshmen even.) but old enough to drink. Derek has a full bar and the three go to clubs and bars more than twice in the movie. Derek seems to have a thing with saying "Let's all just have a drink."

The three decide to spread a rumor for a class and track it's progress and how much it's changed when they hear about it again. The rumor itself was, at a party all three and many other students attended; a rich girl named Naomi has sex with her date Beau in a bedroom upstairs. Naomi is supposed to be a sweet and celibate girl and as it turns out, she can't remember a thing anyway from the party.

Accusations, bad versions of the rumor and fights ensue because of this. Which leads to Jones starting to feel bad, especially because it was her idea to start a rumor for class. But the rumor itself was thought up by Derek. Travis...does all the work it seems. He's the artistic and loyal one of the three.

Travis is the only one we see recording any facts for the assignment from endlessly making graphics that show these events happening and putting them on his wall (Derek: "What are you going to do, turn in your room?") to recording students' thoughts, while Jones fights for 'the truth' behind events that take place or have taken place and while Derek revels in his lifestyle, bar and popularity with women.

There's many plotholes in this movie and you'll either be annoyed or draw your own conclusions. Norman Reedus (Travis) is really the most experienced and talented actor in this movie and it's too bad he did get a small part even if he did play it well. And I find it amusing that he was referred to also as a young new actor when he has done a good ten movies before this one and was 29/30 when filming 'Gossip'. (Even though he can still easily pass for mid twenties.) James Marsden was impressive to a degree as was Edward James Olmos, everyone else while attractive, I was only impressed by on a mediocre level.

The DVD was good for the special features including the full club scene with Poe singing "My Lips Are Sealed" and Tonic's video for the movie only including 'Travis' and clips from the movie.

The alternate ending on the DVD makes much more sense than the one they chose. The ending left us bored, questioning and frustrated because the movie was good and intriguing (Albeit not very realistic.) but the ending was a let down. See for yourself, like the DVD says; "'Gossip' can turn you on, or it can turn on you."

gossip is really predictable and it really got stupid and the camera views and the acting went dry. it helps with the help of Norman Reedus(Deuces Wild, Boondock Saints and Blade2) and Eric Bogosian(Undersiege2, a bright shining lie and igby goes down).if you watch closely, the emotions of Lena Headley are great and im saying this in a sarcastic way. James Marsden is basically a washout in this

A very boring and stupid film about college freshmen with a kindergarten maturity level. The movie is horribly slow to get to the point and is riddled with nonsense dialogue: I've heard better lines in "Fast Times At Richmond High" thank you.

Altogether a very forgettable film that has a lot of talk about nothing. Don't believe the great reviews about this film: you might like it if you're a 14-17 year-old fantasizing about how "cool" college life might be with all the "cool" people and "parties." If you're not in that category, skip this boring film and save both your time and your money.

"Gossip" is no better than most "thrillers" aimed at the 12 to 17 crowd, although considerably less profound and lacking a true meassage. Part of the problem is that the film never comes across as particularly convincing, either in its setting or in its characters.

The film takes place on a college campus in NYC filled with the types of students that make the rest of us feel as if we wasted our own college years attending boring lectures and writing lengthy term papers when we could have been having so much more fun creating scandals and toppling any authoirity figures who block our path. These "students" could not compete with avid 4th graders, lacking any kind of discipline required to achieve academically. Their main purpose of attending classes is to be abreast of the current "rumors" going around.

This film is a mixture of a modern day Pippi Longstocking, Peter Pan and Beaver Cleaver. The motto: Let's all be obnoxious kids forever, and let everyone else try to figure out what in the world we will be doing 10 or 20 years from now (if we're still alive). There is no positive message in this slapped together piece of teen exploitation. Don't let your kids see this!**

So, yeah, the script for "Gossip" probably could have used one or two more drafts to hammer out those plot gaps and that sorry excuse for a "twist" ending...but what the movie lacks in sense and plot it makes up for in style. This is truly a "hip" movie. Everything from the talented young cast, to the cool setting (I'm going to say New York City because there is a reference to the meat-packing district and it's probably supposed to be Columbia University from the looks of the tree-lined campus), and even the trendy loft apartment occupied by the trio of leads: Jones, Derrick, and Travis; complete with high ceilings, exposed brick, a glass minibar, and the coolest tea kettle I have ever seen. Travis's artwork is very urban and post-modern and Eric Bogosian is the ideal professor of the 21st Century: cynnical and full of sarcasm. See this movie not for the convoluted plot but rather for the ambiance of cool/hip/trendy that flows throughout most of it.

Being a huge Kate Hudson fan, I had to see this film despite horrible reviews. "Gossip" centers around three college students; Derrick (James Marsden), Jones (Lena Headley) and Travis (Norman Reedus) who start a sexual rumor about a virginal-yet-icy classmate Naomi (Hudson). At a party, Naomi and Beau (Joshua Jackson) go in a room alone and he leaves. Naomi is found passed out. Jones, Travis and Derrick circulate the rumor around campus that Naomi and Beau had sex, then that turns to rape. Naomi, being drunk, doesn't remember much of the event and believes that she was raped. Hush....no more, you have to see it for yourself!

My only complaint about the film is that it does not fit into a genre, is it teen or not? The actors are in their early to mid-20s (ideal for teen movies) and the ending was very confusing and WEIRD. Overall, it wasn't that bad. It's better that a lot of other, um, teen movies.

GOSSIP is a film that tries hard to fit in to the thriller genre. It takes a while to get going, then just when it starts to gain momentum, its climax falls short of satisfying its viewers. The story centers around what happens on a college campus, when three journalism students break a story, that turns out to be a hoax. The story was planted in order to track how the twisted changes as it makes its way through campus. Things get dicey for the trio when the police are called in to investigate what really happened. The cast, led by James Marsden, Lena Headey, Norman Reedus, and the lovely Kate Hudson, do their best to keep it interesting, and so does director Davis Guggenheim. In my opinion, the script is what ultimately does this film in. Most of the characters are cardbaord cutout clones from THE SKULLS and CRUEL INTENTIONS

The best extra on DVD is the alternate ending, which I think works better, as a conclusion, than the one that is used in the final cut. There are two music videos, one from Tonic, and the other from Poe. There are a handful of deleted scenes, a Gossip montage, and un-used interview footage, conducted by the Travis character, to track the rumor's changes, and cast and crew information. Rounding out the disc's extras is the commentary track from Marsden and Guggenheim that is ok and the theatrical trailler that hardly anyone saw at a multplex, since the film had not done well at all, and had no time on the big screen.

I went back and forth about buying this title because of some of the reviews that I read. However, I decided to buy it anyway and I'm glad that I did. Gossip is really a good movie. Aside from the obvious, the beautiful people with the beautiful clothes that are beautifully photographed (Andrzej Bartkowiak take a bow) the movie is well acted inspite of the frailty of the plotline (the last 1/3) which isn't a total loss.

I was pleasantly surprised by James Marsden who gives a brilliant performance as the manipulator that squeezes compassion from the viewer - inspite of the evil that he spreads and the reason why. His roommates played by Lena Heady and Norman Reedus are first rate.

I rarely listen to the commentaries, frankly because they rarely give insight, and sometimes are just flat out annoying. The commentary by Marsden and Guggenheim is not one of those. This one is funny in parts, technical in others, but never boring.

If you haven't seen this film I recommend it - Gossip is definitely one of the better 'hip' films out there.