On G List of Movie Reviews

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Gossip (2000)

Rate: 7
Viewed: 4/21

Gossip
4/21: Gossip runs with the eponymous concept to the goal line and scores a big win on the philosophical level.

When I attended a bubble-like college during the same year as the movie was first released, rumor was the name of the game. One day, somebody pointed me out an Asian male and said he had AIDS. It got repeated so often by others that I took it for a fact.

One day, I finally confronted the man himself and asked him point-blank if he really had the disease. He told me some fat, ugly girl made it up to get back at him for refusing to go out with her. We ended up being friends, and today, he's very much healthy, married with kids, and is doing well.

Thinking about it, I can relate to Gossip. What I didn't realize is how it was shaping to be like The Game with Michael Douglas and Sean Penn. At first, I thought it was going to be another hip wannabe young adult movie, but the plot did get better and the players were working well toward a point.

For a while, I was leaning toward the stereotypical tortured artist because Derrick Webb seemed so convincing that I apparently believed his side of the story. However, what bothered me was when Cathy Jones went to see Naomi Preston, the latter lost it in a dramatic fashion. Therefore, how could that be when it was later revealed that they decided to work together to hatch a scheme? Hence, I'll have to see the movie again to ascertain the feasibility of it.

Regardless, everything else seems fine, and there's a terrific ending. Given the adult nature of the topic, Gossip is a much more appropriate picture than Cruel Intentions. What goes a long way is the ingenious construct that's surrounded by a cool cast including James Marsden, Lena Headey, Norman Reedus who actually did the artwork, Kate Hudson, Joshua Jackson, Eric Bogosian, and Edward James Olmos. I have to laugh at the last one because this is the man from Miami Vice, and of course, he's going to pass for a detective easily. Come on, don't be ridiculous.

All in all, a box-office failure at the time, Gossip is a highly clever movie that deserves a look.