Product Description

College jounalism students plant a trashy rumor about a celibate co-ed, planning to track how the story changes as it burns through the university. But what the students never imagine is that the savagely mutating tale will turn against them.

DVD Features:
Alternate endings
Audio Commentary:Commentary by D. Guggenheim, J. Mardsen
Deleted Scenes:Deleted Scenes - 11:07
Filmographies
Interactive Menus
Music Video
Other:Travis's gossip Interviews "Grab Bag"
Scene Access
Theatrical Trailer

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16292 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2000-10-31
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 90 minutes

Amazon.com
Gossip is one of a spate of movies that owe a lot to Cruel Intentions. This time it's rich kids in college, but other than that Gossip stays well within the beautiful-young-people-doing-awful-things-to-each other formula. Lena Heady plays Jones, obviously the Smart Girl because she is briefly seen wearing glasses. Jones hangs out with Arty Guy Travis and Handsome Rich Guy Derrick, who finances their adventures and has a little bit of a lying habit. The three are all in the same journalism class (acidic monologist Eric Bogosian plays the acidic professor) and decide to start and track a rumor for their term papers. They pick rich and beautiful couple Beau and Naomi (Joshua Jackson and Kate Hudson) as the focus of the rumor, and before you know it their juicy story starts spinning out of control into ugly territory and a truly ludicrous climax. There are attempts at making sledgehammer points about the slippery task of finding Truth, but mostly Gossip is about the guilty pleasure of watching pretty young actors be mean to each other. You'll hate yourself in the morning, but watch it anyway. --Ali Davis

Customer Reviews

high-quality genre fare
I'm surprised that reviews of this tidy little work are so mixed. It's a reliable enough recipe: take 'The Talented Mr. Ripley' and mix with 'House of Games,' but lighten it up with a dash of glitz, a fetching fantasy of idealized college life, and no major downer at the end :-)

The young actors are pretty and some are talented, and the dialogue is not bad -- some of it is actually rather good. The sets are a bit much, imho -- one wonders just how plush Derek's trust fund is, after seeing the "undergrad apartment" which few dotcom lottery winners could afford to keep up. There's a relentless prettiness to most of the backdrops even when they're trying to look noir, but that can be forgiven in a film which is really more stage play than cinema. The cinematography is mostly effortless and unobtrusive; there are a couple of arty little touches, but it's not self-indulgent.

Supporting cast do their jobs reliably; the brief scene in a high school admin office (where "Jones" is pursuing her investigation) is nicely played all the way into the far background of the shot. Some of the young extras definitely seem to be trolling for work (it's just amazing how pretty everyone is in this universe!) but it's all in good fun.

Marsden does very well with the Ripleyesque protagonist. His Marvel Comics good looks and alarming glibness are quite convincing; I loathed "Derek" after only a few minutes, and enjoyed Marsden's enjoyment of the role. Actually I should confess, I watched the film only because I like Edward James Olmos and never miss a chance to see him even in a small part; but was pleasantly surprised -- enjoyed it far more than I expected to.

One thing I appreciated about the script was a minor surprise value. Not Derek's true nature -- it's evident from the git-go, so no surprises there; and we know that poor, bewildered Jones will indeed figure it out given time (if nasty Derek doesn't push her down a staircase first, of course). The surprise I rather liked was that the film threatens for a moment to turn into another poor-little-falsely-accused-fellow saga, a sort of Dinesh D'Souza flavoured backlash tract on the wickedness of ruining young men's lives by actually taking rape seriously. Just as one is saying Oh Gawd, spare us -- it lightly skips away from the brink of disaster and delivers a far more palatable (and imho useful) message. It may be rather slickly wrapped, and admittedly unoriginal; but the basic lesson (that liars and users are despicable no matter how handsome/rich/cool they are) is one the human race can always do with.

One thing that amused me considerably was the fluency, the articulate command of language which these "college students" converse and declaim. I work at a University, and the undergraduates with whom I come in daily contact seem to have vocabularies of less than 800 words, including a fairly rich, repetitive admixture of the short one that starts with F. I would very much like to think that films like this could revive an interest in being articulate, witty, and intelligent-sounding among undergraduate and high-school age people; I've become a bit weary of the fashion for sounding and acting illiterate and stupid.

Well, end of rant :-) I think this is a well-crafted, undemanding, fresh and shiny little work that may entertain people even a few years from now. It has a peculiar style and sparkle which oddly enough remind me of films of the late 30's and early 40's. I'd recommend it.

Someone should compile a good list of films about compulsive liars and charming sociopaths -- 'All About Eve' comes to mind, 'Ripley' of course, and 'Deathtrap' -- I think 'Gossip' would be worthy of inclusion. Timothy Dalton in 'Framed' would make the list, with an honourable mention for his youthful effort as the sinister young King of France in 'The Lion in Winter'.

We do what we do then we gossip about it!
Gossip is a killer movie. Just when I thought I had it figured out, I found out I didnt! Besides the extrodinary plot and awsome ensemble cast, Gossip finishes off much different then you would have expected! Which is what I like in a movie, unpredictability, suspense and action! I would recomend Gossip to anyone I knew, because I dont know of anyone who I made watch it, that didnt thoroughly enjoy it! For more of my reveiws and pics check out my site at http://trishnstephanie.tripod.com/stephaniessite/

"Gossip" Movie Review
Gossip is a psychological thriller set in the stereo-typical urban university setting, with a not-so stereo-typical cast. Lena Headey and James Mardsen (Xmen) pair off, weaving intricate plot twisting action through the course of two hours. In her journalism class, Headey decides to begin a rumor about a couple, Kate Hudson (Almost Famous) and Joshau Jackson (Skulls) having sex at an after hours club. The gossip spreads rapidly, and when the rumor gets back to the girl she must decide if it really happened. The plot is well-developed, the casting is genuis and the setting is done well. The loft apartment shared by Mardsen, Headey and a third roommate will make the most artistic person jealous. This movie is NOT your usual college-slash em' two hour waste of film.