Rumor Has It...

This film bored me. Jennifer Aniston is decent but the plot is weak. No one really leaves an impression though Mark Ruffalo tries hard in a thankless part. The film draws inspiration from 'The Graduate' but doesn't come even close to the 1967 film. Kevin Costner has a little fun with his role. Shirley MacLaine plays the same role she's been playing essentially for the last few years, a crotchety version of Shirley Maclaine! Aniston's character is quite simply tiresome and her emotional journey didn't leave an impact on me. Avoid unless you are bored with nothing else to do.

Overall 4/10

'Rumor Has It' pretty much has all the technical ingredients: Good actors, interesting premise (a girl trying to find herself), excellent cinematography, breathtaking shots of America and a nice score. However, it's let down by the writing and direction. For a comedy, it's not so funny. Many of the jokes fall flat. For a drama, it just doesn't engage and a lot of it looks forced. The movie derails every now and then and the whole 'romantic' angle between Costner's Beau and Aniston's Sarah feels icky and looks unconvincing. Jennifer Aniston is in a confused Rachel Green mode (except here her character is not likable and she's a little too whiny). Mark Ruffalo does a decent job as the supportive boyfriend and shares a good chemistry with Aniston. Their scenes in the beginning are quite fun to watch. It's just the last scene that was a little less believable as Jeff seems to have forgiven Sarah too easily. Kevin Costner seems sleazy (when the character wasn't really meant to appear that way) and he and Aniston seem to lack chemistry. Mena Suvari has a pointless and thankless role. The last scene between her and Aniston just seemed ...well, forced. However, it is Shirley MacLaine who delivers the best performance. She provides all the laugh out loud moments but her role is too small to be the saving grace. Simply put, 'Rumor Has It' is a weak and confused film.

This picture begins with a funny premise. A woman, attending her sister's wedding, discovers that her mother was Mrs. Robinson from "The Graduate."

Kevin Costner is the guy who had the affair with the mother who is now deceased as well as the grandma Shirley MacLaine. MacLaine seems to be in a new career mold as a lively senior citizen. She is a pleasure to watch on the screen.

The problem with "Rumor Has It" is that the film goes down once we see differences between it and the original "The Graduate."

As the let-down boyfriend, Mark Ruffalo is charming on screen. Kathy Bates appears in one scene as the friend of the late woman. She really has put on weight.

Jennifer Aniston is appealing in the role of the daughter who very well realizes that the man she is falling for could very well be her dad. Though we see that this is not the case, we are still annoyed by a possible incestuous relationship.

I have to say that the film has it's problems. It's almost like the producer/producers saw films like "Monster in Law" and "Parenthood" or "Father of the Bride" and wanted to capture those funny, madcap and endearing moments and instead didn't quite have the material or dialogue or script to really pull it all off. You think that something funny is coming and the scene ends and just isn't that laugh inducing. I wanted to laugh-but it just wasn't funny.

Also, I don't know if I buy into the story. At the end of The Graduate Elaine and Ben run to the street and catch a public bus taking them from Elaine's wedding while the guests have been locked in the church by Ben. Would Elaine and Ben have married after that? Maybe not-it would have been very awkward for both families for many years. But I'm not sure Elaine would have dumped Ben nor do I particularly but into this scenario.

Could this have been the outcome for them? Maybe but I don't see it.

There are some funny moments but for the most part this is predictable and flat. Not bad though. I just don't think anyone will watch this and find it hilarious. Some of it is actually kind of sad.

This is the kind of movie that just pisses me off to no end because it has so much potential, but somehow it comes off as exceedingly mediocre. Jennifer Aniston plays a woman who discovers her family was the model for the novel and film The Graduate. She never saw how she fit in with her family, so she wonders if maybe the model for Benjamin, a rich man named Beau Burroughs (Kevin Costner), is her real father. She's wrong, but in the process of this discovery, she ends up sleeping with the man, thus continuing the tradition of her mother (deceased) and grandmother (played here by Shirley MacLaine). This in turn ruins her relationship with her loving fiancé (Mark Ruffalo). I remember seeing the trailer last fall and thinking, "This is a great idea." I laughed pretty much constantly during that preview. Unfortunately, it contains most of the film's best moments. The actual film is more of a romance (or perhaps a better term would be "chick flick") than a comedy. It gets somewhat sappy, and the whole thing lumbers on and his never very strong. This is especially annoying, as all the actors are actually very good. Aniston proves once again that she is a very good actress (if only she could land some great material). Costner gives his second excellent performance of the year (I thought his performance in The Upside of Anger was perhaps the year's best performance from an actor). He was so mediocre earlier on, it's kind of cool to see that maybe he is just now hitting his peak. Mark Ruffalo is very funny, as is Mena Suvari, who plays Aniston's younger sister. And MacLaine's role is absolutely golden. She also had a very good performance elsewhere in '05 (In Her Shoes), but she has even more to do here and she flexes her comic muscles. With all that goodness, it really pains me that it's so hard to muster any enthusiasm for this somewhat lame film!