GOSSIP

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 2 out of 5

Because of: sexual content, language, thematic elements

Rated:

Have you ever spread a rumor? Repeated something you heard that you weren't certain was true? Have you ever had a lie spread about you? That is the foundation for Gossip, a malicious little film about how lies can destroy lives. Though it has numerous faults it is also memorable for the feeling of profound repulsion it leaves in the viewer as they contemplate how rapidly a lie can transform into the "truth."

Roomies and fellow journalism majors at an elite college upstate, Cathy (Lena Headey), Travis (Norman Reedus) and Derrick (James Marsden) are assigned a paper by the end of term on the topic of their choice. Since gossip has been a recent target of their professor's speeches on the difference between true journalism and spreading lies in the press, they choose that as their medium. The three intend to start a rumor and track its growth. One night at a rave Cathy has a run-in with an elite prep student named Naomi Preston (Kate Hudson), who vanishes into an upstairs room with her boyfriend Beau (Joshua Jackson). Known for her outspoken stance against premarital sex, Naomi is chosen as the target of their malicious rumor, which implies she and Beau became more than just physical.

The rumor escalates through the school. First it's just a nasty sex scandal but then Cathy is horrified when it takes a dark twist... someone mentioned that Naomi passed out and rapidly the story becomes a case of rape. Naomi believes she has been assaulted and goes to the authorities, leading to an investigation. While Cathy pleads with her friends to come clean, Derrick confesses that he doesn't really know what happened that night. For all he knows, Beau could have raped her. What the film does is display beautiful people being cruel to one another. Cathy and Naomi in their respective roles become the most empathetic of the characters, because they are both victims of ultimately the same powerful and manipulative man.

Gossip is one of the most devastating form of lies in our society today, and yet people still do it. They buy it. They read it. They repeat it, whether or not it is true. The film takes a daring stance in defining how bad gossip can be, showing the end result of what might happen if a similar rumor was spread about an emotionally unstable girl. The crux of it is that Naomi was raped in high school. Cathy had no way of knowing that. There is value in that aspect alone, but the rest of the film is quite morose and dramatic. It also strays a little too far into sexual power and politics. The rumor is all about sex and so that, along with rape, becomes the focus of much conversation. Derrick is an unashamed philanderer and is shown briefly having sex with a girl in the bathroom before she becomes physically ill and stops him. (Too much alcohol.) He watches Beau and Naomi make out on a bed in the next room; we see a lot of thigh and hear some heavy breathing, before she tells Beau to stop.

The most disappointing moment comes when Derrick finally gets Cathy to sleep with him. The scene doesn't contain any nudity but is semi-graphic. Language isn't too much of a problem, excluding a couple coarse references to the male anatomy, a dozen or so general profanities and slang terms, and one use of the f-word. Violence consists of two men struggling over a gun and it going off; college boys get into a major fistfight in an alley; after being slapped by a girl, the man attempts to hit her back but is restrained by his friends; a man and woman struggle and he forces her down onto a bed, before she scratches him across the face. Blood is shown after a bullet wound. There is talk of suicide. Modern pieces of artwork show partial nudity in old paintings.

Most keen audiences will be a step ahead of most of the characters as the story unfolds. I did determine what the conclusion would be after a significant event transpired, but even then it kept me guessing. How much of it was gossip and what was the truth? Was Beau telling the truth when he said he left her in the room after she passed out, or did he assault her? I became as confused and mislead as the characters, which is a tribute to the subtle nuances of an intelligent script. It's a better and significantly less malicious alternative to Cruel Intentions, and if you learn one thing walking away from it, it's this: never spread Gossip.