“Rumor Has It” feels a bit schizophrenic in that it can’t settle on exactly what story it’s trying to tell. For audiences this split-personality issue means the film makes you lose interest in the characters, all of whom become less and less important as the movie drags on. I caught myself thinking about the shopping I needed to get done and whether or not I had to stop and get gas on the way home from the theater. I didn’t feel anything for the people on the screen. They wouldn’t let me.
Jennifer Aniston stars as Sarah Huttinger, a first-class worrier who’s always felt like the black sheep of her upper-class, Pasadena-based family. Confused over having said yes to her boyfriend Jeff’s proposal, she finds herself traveling across the country (said boyfriend in tow) for her younger sister’s wedding, fretting over spending time with her family and unwilling to announce her own engagement.
Once among her assorted relatives, Sarah’s feeling of being a visitor from an alien planet intensifies. Then an inadvertent slip up by her grandmother (Shirley MacLaine, easily the best thing about “Rumor Has It”) leads Sarah to a startlingly discovery. Her mother and grandmother may very well have been the women immortalized in “The Graduate.” The more she analyzes the possibility, the more real her desire to track down the man, Beau Burroughs (Kevin Costner), who may have slept with her mother and her grandmother (and who very well might just be her real father) becomes.
Beau turns out to still be quite a charmer and uses his talents to full advantage on a very confused and conflicted Sarah. How creepy it id to think one man would want to sleep with three generations of women from the same family depends on your personal point of view, but in my book it tipped the scales toward the ultra-creepy side.
Right up to the part where Sarah flies off to San Francisco to track down Beau, the movie has potential. Then it hits some major snags and turns into a dramafest with only the occasional bit of comic relief provided by Sarah’s “don’t call me grandmother” grandmother. Sarah’s sister (Mena Suvari) has issues, Jeff (Mark Ruffalo) shows up at an inopportune moment and calls off the engagement, and what had the makings of a pretty fun romp turns much too melodramatic.
“Rumor Has It” leaves you with the impression somewhere along the way the director or screenwriter or someone in charge forgot the film was supposed to be a romantic comedy (keyword ‘comedy’). The laughs are very few and far between. This would have been a fairly fun movie had the focus been on the film’s most entertaining character, played by the inimitable Shirley MacLaine, rather than Jennifer Aniston and the rest of the gang.
Besides the always dependable Mark Ruffalo, who is underutilized and marginalized to the point of almost being one-dimensional in this film, and MacLaine’s film-saving performance, the acting is strictly middle of the road. Aniston doesn’t sell the tough crying scenes and never seems happy enough when the script calls for that response either.
This isn’t one of director Rob Reiner’s better efforts. It’s poorly paced and plods along to an all-too-Hollywoodish ending. "Rumor Has It" may appeal to Aniston fans, but don't go in with high hopes of seeing anything new.
GRADE: C
"Rumor Has It" was directed by Rob Reiner and is rated PG-13 for mature thematic material, sexual content, crude humor and a drug reference.
