Rumor Has It...

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 like to have an idea of what the public thinks about a movie before i go and see it. This movie in particular definitely wasn't bad like people were saying. I really enjoyed it and I don't know If i can agree with what people have been saying about the movie. Its not every day I go out and see a movie like this, so it was something different for me. I do recommend the movie to people to see. After the countless love stories and such, I was starting to lose hope that there was a movie out there that could keep my interest. I was surprised by this movie and enjoyed it all the way through. It was a story that really hasn't been driven into the ground like so many recent movies. I like the twists and turns in the movie and I have always enjoyed Kevin Costner and Jennifer Aniston. It was a different sort of combination that really hit the spot.

Jennifer Aniston plays Sarah Huttinger, a journalist about to get married to her boyfriend (Mark Ruffalo) when she's called back to Pasadena for her sister's wedding. There, she meets millionaire playboy Beau Burroughs (Kevin Costner) who had relations with both her mother and grandmother, an incident that might have influenced the '60s movie "The Graduate."

"Rumor Has It" is a lackluster film from Jennifer Aniston that fails to take advantage of its interesting premise. The movie had all the right ingredients to be an entertaining ride. Good cast, good director, engaging premise and a talented screenwriter. So, what went wrong? Rob Reiner tried to make a character driven dramedy that just didn't work. The film was not very funny and they recycled the same jokes over and over again. How many jokes about Pasadena can you have in the first twenty minutes? Apparently not enough for Mr. Reiner. The more serious scenes were deathly dull and this has a lot to do with the fact that all the characters were unlikable and uninteresting. The actors all appeared bored on screen and only one person gave a good performance.

Shirley MacLaine gives an engaging and funny performance as Katherine. She saves the movie completely though she doesn't get a lot of screen time. Jennifer Anniston was pretty bland, nothing special from her. That is two flops in a row for her with this and Derailed. Mark Ruffalo was okay, again nothing special. Mena Suvari gave a decent performance but doesn't get a lot of screen time. Kevin Costner was a complete dud. His performance was very mundane and he shared zero chemistry with everyone on screen.

The appeal between Costner and Aniston seemed force and there was nothing interesting about it at all. The scenes with Aniston and Ruffalo were much better and seemed more real. The family aspects of the movie were okay. There were a few engaging scenes like the bedroom scene between Aniston and Suvari. Those two played sisters and their conversation about their mother was nice to watch. Still, they weren't as good as Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette from "In Her Shoes". The ending was expected and a little unbelievable actually. I still don't understand why he took Sarah back considering she cheated on him and her speech seemed really force. In the end, "Rumor Has It" is simply a weak film that's not really worth watching. Rating 5/10

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

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.