Rumor Has It

Posted by Tara Settembre (tara@filmschoolrejects.com) on May 23, 2006

Directed by Rob Riener, Rumor Has It is a sophisticated, complicated and charming comedy that although is not “haha” funny, it still manages to be endearing due to the characters and actors.

Jennifer Aniston plays a recently engaged and confused woman (Sarah Huttinger) who learns that her family was the inspiration for the book and film The Graduate, causing her to question if she just might be the offspring of the well-documented event. Instead of Anne Bancroft and Dustin Hoffman as Mrs. Robinson and the young graduate, we get Shirley MacLaine and Kevin Costner, but years after the famous affair.

Confused about her career, family and even her relationship with her sweet but steady fianc© played by Mark Ruffulo, Sarah obsessively researches a family rumor and tracks down Beau Burroughs, the man both her mother and grandmother slept with thirty years ago. Unfortunately Sarah cannot simply ask her mother about what happened the week before marrying her father since her mom passed away and her grandmother doesn’t want to talk about it.

Desperate for answers due to her own personal anxiety, Sarah eventually comes to some conclusions about her own self and it’s her journey that is essentially the main story of the film, not The Graduate ties especially since the Mrs. Robinson character is hardly in it.

The story is set back in 1997 to make the dates and age differences more believable but the time period isn’t evident until there’s talk about an Internet revolution coming. The film does a good job at making fun of the upper class rituals of the family’s hometown of Pasadena, California by showing the different circles gossiping and telling jokes. Rumor Has It is also filmed in a very similarly stylish and posh way to reflect the setting and story line. The music through out is classy and jazzy, the colors are soft and Aniston’s to die for wardrobe and the spectacularly lavish settings steal the show at times. As for her acting, Aniston does a nice job playing the confused character, which is definitely more intelligent and complicated than her Rachel Green persona. Although Costner is of course older than Aniston, the two make a cute pair onscreen despite the possible incestuous character ties that make things a bit uncomfortable for audiences at first.

I wrote the word, “complicated” twice already and that’s because the plot is far from being simple or easily tied up with a bow, which is both a positive and a negative. The plot is complicated due to the fact that Sarah is diving into both her mother and grandmother’s love lives while also questioning her own love life and messing it up in the process. I enjoyed and appreciated its complexity though and the fact that there wasn’t a simple ending, but at times it caused some uncomfortable ness.

The film unfortunately didn’t receive much attention at the box office during its Christmas release due to being out shadowed by the other holiday films and potential Oscar nominees. I’m not saying it is the best film in the world or as memorable as The Graduate, but it is charming and provides an escape for a couple hours. If the film was cast with different actors though, I don’t think it would have been as effective.

The DVD is available in both full screen and widescreen formats but unfortunately there aren’t any special features except the trailer, which I never consider to be an actual bonus. At the start of the DVD there are a bunch of Superman clips from the original series with Christopher Reeves to a trailer of the new Superman film coming out soon.

The Upside:
Pleasant for a rental with enjoyable performances and the story moves along quickly.
The Downside:
There are plot flaws and some narrative uncertainty.
On the Side:
Early in the film’s pre-production stages, Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft were strongly considered for the roles of Beau Burroughs and Katherine Richelieu. But when Bancroft died and Hoffman had filming commitments for several other projects, the roles were given to Kevin Costner and Shirley MacLaine. Also Kathy Bates has a small role in the film as Aunt Mitsy.

Breaking Down the DVD:
The Film: B
The Delivery: B-
The Extras: F
Final Grade: B-

Click Here to watch the Trailer

Technorati Tags: Movie, entertainment, Romance, Comedy, Funny, The Graduate, Jennifer Aniston

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