DVD Review: Rumor Has It

By Patrick Luce May 10, 2006, 13:31 GMT

Jennifer Aniston stars as the woman who learns that her family was the inspiration for the book and film \'The Graduate\', not to mention that she may well be the result the well-documented event. ...more

With a cast of Hollywood A-list actors and a director who is a master at this genre, Rumor Has It should have been a great movie. Unfortunately, the film fails to really live up to its potential, and is just a mediocre movie at best.

The film has some big name stars in it that normally deliver solid performances - including Kevin Costner, Jennifer Aniston, Mark Ruffalo, and the always great Shirley MacLaine. It was directed by Rob Reiner – who is no stranger to the romantic comedy genre with hits like When Harry Meet Sally and The American President. It even had a couple of big name producers in George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh.

The film revolves around The Graduate, but is not a sequel (thank God). The plot follows Sarah Huttinger (Aniston) who returns home with her fiancé (Ruffalo) for her sister’s wedding. Sarah, who isn’t too sure about her own upcoming marriage, has always felt out of place from the country-club lifestyle of her family. This feeling begins to run wild when she discovers that her grandmother (MacLaine) and mother both had an affair with a man named Beau Burroughs (Costner), and that the affairs became the inspiration for The Graduate.

After some quick math, Sarah begins to suspect that Burroughs could be her real father and the answer to why she feels so out of place in her family. This leads Sarah to track Burroughs, now a wealthy business man, down and confront him with the truth – which naturally is wrong.

MacLaine steals almost every scene

From there, the movie begins to quickly lose ground as Sarah discovers Burroughs is not her father (due to blunt testicular trauma when he played soccer); gets drunk and sleeps with him; quasi falls in “love” with him; deals with the consequences of that action (naturally the fiancé walks in on them); gets some advice from grandma; then tries to patch everything up before the credit roll.

Okay, here is what works in the film – Shirley MacLaine. Whenever she is in the movie, it is laugh out loud funny. She delivers her trademark sarcastic quips that steal almost every scene and demonstrate why the actress can hold her own against anyone in Hollywood. There are only a few exchanges between her and Costner, but they are some of the funniest scenes in the movie.

Aniston is good in the role, but it seems like the character doesn’t give her too much to develop. I have seen her deliver better performances in other roles (such as The Good Girl), but she fails to impress in this film. I am not saying that it is her fault, but something just lacked in her performance. There is also zero chemistry between Costner (who looks bored through the whole movie) and Aniston – which doesn’t help their little romantic interlude seem halfway believable.

Out of all the actors in the film, Costner is probably the worst. Normally, I enjoy Kevin Costner films (although I prefer his westerns), but it seemed like he wasn’t even trying in this role. He looked disheveled and out of place throughout the entire film. This could have been done in an attempt to show an older version of Dustin Hoffman’s Benjamin Braddock, but the character seemed to resemble more of Costner’s Denny Davies from The Upside of Anger (which I liked).

I would love to talk to you about the special features of the DVD, but all that the DVD comes with is the theatrical trailer for the film. There is zero commentary or even a basic behind the scenes look at the movie – I smell a double dip coming soon. The DVD is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound.

Costner seems bored in the film

Rumor Has It does have some funny moments (again mostly thanks to MacLaine), and isn’t a bad movie. It just lacks anything that could make it a great movie – like The Graduate or some of Reiner’s early films in the romantic comedy genre.

The movie is worth watching if you are a fan of the genre or the actors in the film. There is nothing wrong with the Rumor Has It, but it is simply not as good as you would expect from the cast, the director, or even the film’s plot.

Rumor Has It is now available at Amazon. It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a May 22nd release. Visit the DVD’s database for more information. Rumor Has It is also available in the HD format at Amazon.