Desperate to get out of the house yet? Looking for an activity that the whole family can enjoy, without--and this is key--actually talking to each other? Ah, yes, the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. If you're not on an airplane, you're probably at the movies. It's a big time for kids' movies--The Fantastic Mr. Fox, A Christmas Carol, Where the Wild Things Are, Astroboy--but there's another gap movie makers like to fill this time of year. Call it the all-ages adult comedy. 2007 brought us Fred Claus and Enchanted; last year: Four Christmases. In other words, it's tough to do well. The hope, of course, is to create something that a fifteen-year-old can watch with his grandmother, with just enough raunch for both to feel cool, but not enough that either feels the need to crawl under his or her sticky seat.

And so, flipping down the list of mulitplex offerings this year, it's quite possible that your fingers will linger over "Old Dogs." Robin Williams--well, he used to be funny, and every time he bats another one we all hope he'll somehow hit this one out of the park. And John Travolta--Pulp Fiction! Get Shorty! And it's Disney--surely this is family friendly fun. But we took a small office poll here, and couldn't find a single person who, having once seen Seth Green snuggled in the arms of a gorilla during the trailer, was willing to sit though the entire movie (and remember, I made it through Imagine That and Mr. Troop Mom). So although we cannot actually offer you a review of Old Dogs, we can state with confidence that we've seen the moments this film's creators thought put its very best foot forward (in fact, we've seen them more than once) and we decided to stay home. Our best advice would be that you do the same.

Still from Old Dogs. © 2009 Walt Disney Pictures. All rights reserved.

DoubleX is starting a new partnership with The Washington Post Magazine. Each week our contributors will argue over a certain question, and we invite you to join in. This week: Is gossip at work a malicious distraction or a useful social tool?

Hanna Rosin: It depends on the size of the workplace. At a small office where I once worked, the gossip was like family gossip. It was all viciously intimate but assumed a great amount of unspoken connection and affection. At a bigger office where I once worked, gossip seemed more like a management tool to organize individuals. Everyone had a reputation, a two-sentence summary of their personality and work habits. That characterization stuck no matter what. It was often not true and never very interesting, but it could always be used against you.

Alison Buckholtz: Tomato, tomahto. Office gossip to one person is another person's strategizing. When it comes to office politics, all intel is fair game, as long as the participants play fair. The real issue is knowing boundaries, because when coworkers cross the line, using personal information in underhanded ways, no one benefits.

KJ Dell'Antonia: Gossip about bosses? All's fair. Gossip about colleagues? Mouth shut. Gossip about underlings—very uncool, although sometimes irresistible if you have a particularly colorful group. In the law firms where I worked, gossip about the partners was downright necessary—plenty were guys you didn't want to let shut the office door behind you. And there's always the senior associate who doesn't give credit where it's due. Those are things you need to know. But when it comes to colleagues, dishing dirt invites others to do the same, and it's just never struck me as politic. In my experience, anyone willing to gossip with you will also gossip about you. Of course, that's not to say I won't listen ...

Tags: Gossip, workplace