Joe Gould's Secret

Release Date: 2000-01-21

Overview: Around 1940, New Yorker staff writer Joe Mitchell meets Joe Gould, a Greenwich Village character who cadges meals, drinks, and contributions to the Joe Gould Fund and who is writing a voluminous Oral History of the World, a record of 20,000 conversations he's overheard. Mitchell is fascinated with this Harvard grad and writes a 1942 piece about him, "Professor Seagull," bringing Gould some celebrity and an invitation to join the Greenwich Village Ravens, a poetry club he's often crashed. Gould's touchy, querulous personality and his frequent dropping in on Mitchell for hours of chat lead to a breakup, but the two Joes stay in touch until Gould's death and Mitchell's unveiling of the secret.

Rating: 5.889 / 10

Cast

Ian Holm

as Joe Gould

Stanley Tucci

as Joe Mitchell

Hope Davis

as Therese Mitchell

Sarah Hyland

as Elizabeth Mitchell

Hallee Hirsh

as Nora Mitchell