Beware the Gonzo (2010)

Eddie "Gonzo" Gilman is starting a revolution. When the wild-eyed rebel journalist is ousted from his prep school's newspaper by its über-popular editor, Eddie fronts an underground ... See full summary »

Director:

Bryan Goluboff

Writer:

Bryan Goluboff

Stars:

Ezra Miller, Zoë Kravitz, Griffin Newman

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ezra Miller	...	Eddie 'Gonzo' Gilman
Zoë Kravitz	...	Evie Wallace
Griffin Newman	...	Horny Rob Becker
Stefanie Y. Hong	...	Ming Na (as Stefanie Hong)
Edward Gelbinovich	...	Scott Marshall Schneeman
Jesse McCartney	...	Gavin Reilly
Amy Sedaris	...	Diane Gilman
Campbell Scott	...	Arthur Gilman
James Urbaniak	...	Principal Roy
Marc John Jefferies	...	Stone
Lucian Maisel	...	Malloy
Jerry Grayson	...	Errol
Yul Vazquez	...	Charlie Ronald
Judah Friedlander	...	Cafeteria Guy
Steven Kaplan	...	Kevin

Storyline

Eddie "Gonzo" Gilman is starting a revolution. When the wild-eyed rebel journalist is ousted from his prep school's newspaper by its über-popular editor, Eddie fronts an underground movement to give a voice to all the misfits, outcasts, and nerds. Soon the power of the press is in Eddie's hands... but will he use it wisely?

---

Plot Keywords:

journalist | school newspaper | nerd | misfit | editor | 

---

Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

---

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 September 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Gonzo Files

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Corner Store Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

"You Can't Do That to Me"
Performed by The Ettes
Written by The Ettes

User Reviews

A bit smarter than the usual high school in-crowd vs out-crowd movie.

Saw this as a Netflix streaming movie. Filmed in Queens and Brooklyn, made mostly by TV-experienced crew and cast. I enjoyed it, not as trivial and silly as many high school comedies are.

It is senior year and Ezra Miller, a member of the school newspaper staff, has adopted the name 'Gonzo' Gilman. He aspires to attend Cornell studying journalism and his idol is the journalist who became known as the first "gonzo journalist" Hunter S. Thompson.

(As a short 'aside', gonzo journalism is a no-holds-barred style that considers the style as important as content, and sometimes a good injection of fiction can make an objective article even more effective in its impact. There is a recent movie, "Rum Diary" based on Thompson's book.)

Anyway the editor of the school paper is favorite son, the popular wrestling hero, played by Jesse McCartney as Gavin Reilly, and just an extension of school policy and heavily edits Gonzo's first article, and soon after kicks him off the staff. Undaunted Gonzo decides he will fight back and start his own 'underground' newspaper, complete with a website, enlisting the help of a number of other students.

At first it appeared the movie might degenerate into the usual warring factions, the pretty and popular girls plus the muscled jocks against the not-so-attractive geeks. And, that basically is the division used here, but the story develops along a more meaningful line than many high school movies. The underground newspaper does uncover some issues, like the unhealthy operation of the school cafeteria, but it also gets the participants threatened with expulsion.

Pretty and exotic Zoe Kravitz is Evie Wallace, who has gained a not-so-nice reputation but in fact she is a fighter against the in-crowd and has a very helpful working knowledge of the internet and building web sites.

Effective are Amy Sedaris as Diane Gilman and Campbell Scott as Arthur Gilman, Gonzo's parents. As well as James Urbaniak as Principal Roy who just wants to gloss over everything.

Ultimately the movie is a type of 'coming of age' story, primarily for Gonzo Gilman, but also for several other characters.