Rumor Has It... (2005)

Director: Rob Reiner
Writer: Ted Griffin
Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Mark Ruffalo, Kevin Costner, Shirley MacLaine, Mena Suvari, Richard Jenkins
Genre: Rom-Com

Rumor Has It... has an interesting and original premise. A family which, rumor has, resulted in a bestselling book and a hit-movie starring Dustin Hoffman as a young boy being seduced by an elder woman. Yes. We're talking about The Graduate. Tagline? Based on a true rumor. Sadly the execution is anything but impressive, but I got to give them points for the premise.

I'm not as opposed to Aniston as many others, I do enjoy Ruffalo on a regular basis and the addition of MacLaine and Suvari has potential. The rest of the cast I'm pretty indifferent to, with the exception of course of freaking Dancing With Wolves Costner. I didn't brag much about Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel the other day, but they got a scene involving Costner, and I got to say I support their idea 100 %. Not going to spoil it for those not seen it yet, but those who have sure knows which idea I refer to. Oh, by the way: Costner is, as usual, awful in this movie.

The problems with this movie is basically the lack of focus. They don't seem to know what kind of movie they should make. A comedy? A drama? A Rom-Com? I know these genres can easily be mixed into good movies, but they can also completely lose out on the direction they take, and that's the case here. Reiner seems to have had huge thoughts, but every fifth minute decided to go in another direction, again.

The movie starts with Sarah (Aniston) going home to Pasadena for her younger sister's (Suvari) wedding. With her is her fiancee Jeff (Ruffalo), but their engagement is new and she doesn't want to steal the thunder from her sister by announcing it prior to her wedding. At least that's what she tells Jeff. In truth she's walking around in a fog, constantly confused and out of touch. A conversation with her grandmother (MacLaine) during the rehearsal dinner give a possible explanation to everything she's worried about. She might be the result of her deceased mother's affair with the boy from The Graduate, rather than in family with her father and sister which she feels completely distanced from. Sarah starts chasing down the real The Graduate (Costner), but from there the movie usually picks the wrong paths on every single decision they made during the shoot.

I thought both Aniston and Ruffalo did well all things considered, Costner was, as mentioned, awful and unbelievable, and Suvari and Jenkins was pretty much stage props. It's been a while since I've seen a really good part from MacLaine, but her portrait of Sarah's grandmother is very well executed here.