I rather like it, even if it has tough stuff, but it is not morbid; it has stupid moments and the attention is all on the three protagonists and on the gossip, th power of words.
Jones is a studious girl, but her friends, who are also her roommates, are a great temptation towards going out and have fun.
Jones and Travis live with Derrick in his apartment, he’s rich and likes to have fun and change girls as he wants. During a lesson with professor Goodwin, Derrick says that there’s no difference between gossip and news, that people gossip and when enough people say it it becomes religion, stuff like that. Sadly, thta’s kinda true.
He also adds that he likes gossip, it’s fun.
So, the three friends decide on a project for this class: to spread a gossip and track its life and growth. When they go out that night they see Naomi and Beau. She’s rich and with an important dad, and has a reputation of never having sex.
Jones does not like her because she’s rich but also because she thinks that Naomi spread a rumour about her and professor Goodwin.
Both Travis and Derrick say that they don’t know her. Derrick sees Naomi and Beau, by chance, when they are alone and, it seems, about to have sex. We see that Naomi is totally drunk but still saying no quite clearly, and then we see Beau going out, so that the audience can have the doubt on what happened. Because we didn’t actually see what happened between them.
Derrick convinces his friends to spread the gossip that they had sex, and they accept because he tells them that they didn’t, that it’s an obvious lie. Jones tells a girl that Naomi and Beau did it the night before, and before long the story reaches lows never imagined.
When Naomi hears about it, she’s upset, she doesn’t remember,and she starts believing that he took advantage of her. Her friends say he looked all smug when his friends asked him about it, so Naomi goes to the police. She explains and they arrest Beau.
Travis looks totally lost on his “art”, obsessed with Naomi and this gossip business, while Jones is now worried. Things have already gone too far, in her opinion. Still, Travis wants to trust Derrick while Derrick says that maybe there’s a reason if Naomi went to the police, maybe Beau really did it, would Jones let him get away with it? This also upsets Jones, because Derrick had assured them that Naomi and Beau did NOT in fact have sex that night, it was the decisive point that started it all.
Jones talks to Naomi, trying to learn why she accused Beau so “easily”, but as soon as Jones mentions Derrick’s name, Naomi goes ballistic and throws her out. No Jones i like: Derrick, you said you don’t know her, but you went to the same high school! He insists that people remember him but he doesn’t remember them. They have sex (because Jones always wanted him, but never wanted to ruin their friendship before). The next day Jones is still upset, so she goes to that high school to ask questions. She learns that Derrick and Naomi were together, and the whole school/city thinks that Derrick raped her. When Jones confronts him, he says she wanted it but then she freaked out and didn’t want her dad to know about it.
Jones tells the truth to detective Kelly, but she doesn’t believe her because she “heard” that Jones has a crush on Beau and thinks that she wants to protect him. Derrick’s work, we can guess.
Jones tries to talk to Travis, to Naomi… she needs help.
This, I guess, is when it all starts.
Jones tells Derrick that she gives up but that the funny thing is that Naomi will never know… so that night Derrick has a fist fight with Beau, and then he goesto Naomi’s room to tell her that it was all his doing, he was there and he saw that Beau didn’t touch her. He also says: “both times, it was me”.
They fight, she scratches his face and bites his hand. He takes a picture of her and goes out (meaning a picture already made, he left there the broken frame and took only the picture).
Travis saw him going out, and next day Travis tells Jones and Derrick that Naomi is dead, she killed herself, “it’s all over campus”. Jones feels guilty, Derrick says that she was weak.
When detective Curtis shows up at his door and says that they’re investigating it as a possible murder, he gets worried, says he didn’t see her, lies about the scratch. Jones says she was asked questions and she didn’t lie, she said he went there that night. Then Derrick tries to get Travis to lie for him, say he went there himself and Naomi gave him her picture, the one he took.
Jones goes to ask the professor’s help. In class, the professor says that Derrick spread that rumour, and people start talking about him, saying it was his fault, that he killed her. Derrick tried to say that it was Jones that spread it, but it doesn’t work. He finds the detective at home, and is angry because Jones told Goodwin. When Curtis says that he found the picture in his room, Derrick tries to blame the whole thing on Travis. He shows Travis’ room to the detective, and his art, he says that Travis is obsessed, stalking her, that Travis is sick and demented, that he’s a psycopath.
Curtis says that he’ll investigate Travis, but he will also keep investigating Derrick, because his fingerprints are all over Naomi’s room, and there’s the scratch…which means his dna under her fingernails… Derrick tries to go away but Travis stops him. He has a gun, he feels betrayed and threatens him with the gun. Jones arrives to stop Travis, knowing he has a gun. Travis says if he lets him go, Derrick will get away with it. Derrick jumps on him and they fight, and Jones gets shot.
Derrick tells Travis to call 911, but Jones “dies”. Travis immediately says that the cops are still downstairs and will have heard the shot. He gets upset when Derrick tries to ‘get their stories straight’, and says he should tell the police that he (Derrick) killed her. There’s a bit of yelling back and forth, and then Derrick shouts that he did rape Naomi, that she deserved it, but he didn’t kill anybody.
At this point, he sees that he’s been recorded, Jones is alive and well, and so is Naomi. She’s there with Beau, and there’s also Goodwin, Curtis and that gossipy-girl.
Curtis is actually Naomi’s dad’s driver, while the cop is a guy in Jones’ “calc class”. Beau says Jones approached him with the plan, and he was the one filming everything. Everyone goes out, leaving him alone in his apartment. Derrick now wonders: “what are people gonna think? What are they gonna say about me?” And Travis repeats his own words back at him: “it’s only words. How bad can it be?” and then they leave.
P.s. Naomi knew nothing about the rumou involving Jones and the professor.
Beau left Naomi alone at the club, passed out in that room alone…he didn’t touch her, but he’s a bit responsible anyway, the idiot. He could have at least called some girls up to check on her, or something. Stupid idiot.
Derrick Webb - James Marsden
Cathy Jones - Lena Headey
Travis - Norman Reedus
Naomi Preston - Kate Hudson
Professor Goodwin - Eric Bogosian
Detective Curtis - Edward James Olmos
Beau Edson - Joshua Jackson
Detctive Kelly - Sharon Lawrence
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