GOSSIP A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2000 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): * 1/2
A concept alone does not a movie make. Applying chaos theory to rumor deployment, GOSSIP tells what happens when a group of college students plant a false story. Like a computer virus, the rumor spreads rapidly, harming more than the intended victim.
That's the theory anyway.
Working from an underdeveloped and ridiculous script by Gregory Poirier and Theresa Rebeck, Davis Guggenheim directs GOSSIP with meat cleaver subtlety. It's too bad that the director didn't throw up his hands and go for pure camp. The over-the-top, creepy music (Graeme Revell) and the ominously dark cinematography (Andrzej Bartkowiak) would have nicely supported such an approach. As those of you unlucky enough to have seen BODY SHOTS last year will notice, the art design looks similar, right down to the silly, pastel cocktails, served in a rainbow of colors. As a parody, the film might have at least worked its way up to a guilty pleasure. But, it is not to be. The director buys into the pretentious and preposterous story, producing groans from the audience instead of laughter.
As the movie opens, a professor (Eric Bogosian) is teaching what appears to be a course in rumor mongering at Jerry Springer U. As he flashes tabloid headlines on the screen behind him, he quizzes his pupils on the relationship between gossip and the mass media. Three of his students, Derrick (James Marsden), Jones (Lena Headey) and Travis (Norman Reedus), are roommates and best buds. Partly as a lark and partly to injure a girl whom they don't like, they decide to plant a rumor about her and see where it goes.
Naomi (Kate Hudson), the richest kid on a wealthy campus, has made a big splash by renouncing sex -- shocking! She is an old-fashioned girl who is saving herself for marriage. The Gossip 3 decide to plant a rumor that Naomi's boyfriend, Beau (Joshua Jackson from THE SKULLS), had sex with her at a party after she passed out. The story gets changed many times in the telling. For a while the word on the street is that she had sex with multiple partners on the fire escape and that she wears rubber bras. Eventually, however, the rumor solidifies into date rape by Beau, who is charged by the cops.
In a film full of ludicrous moments, permit me to choose a favorite. After consistently spurning Derrick's sexual advances, since they are all 3 buddies, Jones finally yields to him just after learning something terrible about him. And she does this with Travis nearby, awkwardly trying to ignore their sexual grunts while working on his computer.
The movie is filled with thoughts that will make your blood boil. "We're in college," Derrick tells his two buddies in justification for the catastrophic consequences of their actions. "This is the time of our lives when we're supposed to be making mistakes."
"I don't even know what I'm doing," Travis says of his art. (I forgot to tell you. He finds a way to turn their rumor mill into an art montage that covers his walls and that Derrick figures can be Travis's term project for art class.) The director might say the same of his movie, which he directs with plodding lethargy.
But, if you have any doubt as to who or what killed the movie, wait for the ending. Derision and catcalls are liable to fill the air in your theater as it did it ours during the ending scene. The script did it.
GOSSIP runs 1:30. It is rated R for sexual content, language and brief violence and would be acceptable for older teenagers.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
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