Gossip

It's Urban Legend redone as a crime drama! Three college roommates (James Marsden, Norman Reedus, and Lena Headey) who love to gossip decide that for their term paper they're going to spread a rumor and see how far it goes. So when Marsden surreptitiously observes spoiled rich girl Kate Hudson passing out during a make-out session with boyfriend Joshua Jackson, he decides that the rumor will be that they had sex anyway. Soon enough, the rumor goes from sex to orgy to date-rape, which thickens the plot; then Hudson starts to believe it herself and files charges against her boyfriend. As if that weren't enough, it transpires that she may have actually been raped, and that Marsden may have a hidden agenda. Producer Joel Schumacher originally intended to direct this film himself, and it has the same kind of "slick-grittiness" of his own urban-themed movies (8mm, Flawless). But it's not quite enough. Although the actors are all game (including a criminally wasted Eric Bogosian and Edward James Olmos), the story relies on the three "best friends" not knowing very much about each other, and the surprise twist ending, aside from being just plain goofy, depends upon a very smart character suddenly acting like an idiot. In his feature debut, director David Guggenheim seems to think he's making a new discovery when he points out that most contemporary news is gossip, and that spreading lies can be dangerous. Perhaps if he were, this film would be highly acclaimed. As is, it's like a slicker, big-budgeted after-school special about the dangers of lying. It's a pleasing enough diversion, but not much more, and every one of these actors is capable of better.