Rumor Has It...
Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner, Shirley MacLaine, Mark Ruffalo, Richard Jenkins, Mena Suvari
Directed by: Rob Reiner

Released in the US: December 25th 2005
Released in the UK: Early 2006

Reviewed by: The Boneman, ZBoneman.com

Rumor has it that Rumor Has It had it's share of turbulance on it's way into this year's glut of Christmas fare. Screenwriter Ted Griffin (Matchstick Men) was set to direct his love letter to The Graduate, but was mysteriously replaced by Rob Reiner shortly after production began. Ironic in several ways - one being Griffin's intimate ties to the films' location (he was born, raised and educated in Pasadena) also the setting for The Graduate. Similarly ironic is the fact that the film begins with mains Sarah (Jennifer Aniston) and Jeff (Mark Ruffalo) on a plane headed west for her sister's (Mena Suvari) wedding. As we begin, the aircraft is rocked by turbulance - intended, no doubt, as a metaphor for the emotional turmoil Sarah is experiencing with her own marriage plans. And however unintentionally, the opening scene's bumpy ride certainly mirrored the take-off of the production itself.

When I first read about the film's premise, it certainly struck me as a pretty cockeyed notion. As I alluded to above the plot imagines that the characters in The Graduate were based on real people. As far fetched as this may seem, the connections drawn to the Robinsons and Braddocks of cinematic legend are downplayed enough to get the film off to a promising start. Based on a true rumor as the tagline suggests, the Character's in the book and subsequent film classic immortalized by Katherine Ross and Anne Bancroft were inspired, as it turns out, by Sarah's deceased mother and her very much alive grandmother (Shirley MacLaine). Dustin Hoffman's shoes are filled by Kevin Costner who plays Beau Burroughs as an internet tycoon with a ocean front estate in Half Moon Bay, a private airplane and the kind of quiet, self-effacing charm he's put on display in his modest comeback of late.

As the story goes, a week before the marriage to her father (Richard Jenkins) her mother ran off to Mexico for an eleventh hour fling with Beau. Sarah's fiance (Ruffalo) does the math, leaving Sarah understandably uncertain as to the true identity of her biological father. She's always felt ill-at-ease around her family, and the second father theory starts making sense as to why she has nothing in common with the family she's been raised with. Thus the second act finds Sarah hunting down Burroughs in San Francisco and eventually confronting him about his sexual history with both her mother and her Grandmother . . . Kookoo katchoo Mrs. Robinson. Actually I just realized that the Joe Dimaggo verse of the Simon and Garfunkel song that chronicled the legendary seductress, partially keeps Kevin Costner's baseball-related hitting streak alive.

This is one of those film devices where Aniston is not only searching for answers about her true geneology, but also searching for herself. In Beau Burroughs Sarah imagines finding the key to her own scarttered and troubled existence. Conversely Beau sees in Sarah something of the confused and passionate person who was once a little worried about his future. And it's this second act that is the strongest and least gimmicky and trite part of the film. Once acquainted, Burroughs allays Sarah's paternal suspicions with the revelation that he was rendered sterile as a young man by all things . . . a BASEBALL. (Let's just say Costner's streak is in tact). Blunt testicular trauma to be technical and once all the fatherhood business has been laid to rest, it, of course, allows Costner to go for the "hat trick," "the triple play" or, if you'll please excuse me, "the trifucta."

Other than one or two twists that's pretty much it in a traumatized nut shell, and to be honest I found much of the film enjoyable, and when it sagged at times it at least held my interest. As far as performances go, most were superior to the material. I wasn't as impressed with MacLaine's take on the aging Mrs. Robinson, as most. Her performance was more or less a collection of parting shots. She's forever firing off withering barbs over her shoulder as she walks off screen. There was a likable matter-of-factness to her pragmatic romantic advice, but as such she turns the legend into more of a characiture than a woman of flesh and blood.

Jennifer Aniston was tailor made for Sarah, funny and neurotic she commands the screen even if much of her presence owes to her amazing hair. I didn't have any problem buying into her attraction to Costner, he's kind, funny and direct and besides, how many women are going to turn away a twinkly-eyed millionaire who flies you off in his own plane for lunch in California's wine country. The film worked well through the second act due to the easy chemistry between Aniston and Costner, unfortunately the last act was kind of a paint-by-number affair, with a less than satisfying and ever-so-pat resolution. Ruffalo does what he can with this scant and hackneyed part, using his amazing body language to good effect in an awkwardly funny scene where Aniston decides to ease her nerves with a quickie in the airplane restroom. After that he virtually disappears until it's time to play the moralizing cuckold toward the end.

As mentioned above, Costner continues his welcome comeback, though his role here is nowhere near as interesting as his vulnerable turn in The Upside of Anger. Kathy Bates comes off terribly flat in an uncredited turn and Mena Suvari is merely serviceable as the blustery and bouncing, then flustered bride. Of course the real question mark that will punctuate the film is whether or not Rob Reiner can still make a comedy work. After the dismal duo comprised of The Story of Us and Alex and Emma, Reiner's comedic reputation is literally on the line. To be fair, Reiner isn't given a particularly funny script to run with. Rumor Has It works far better when it is trying to charm us than it is when it's going for laughs. If nothing else Rumor Has It will at least keep the jury in chambers as far as Reiner is concerned. It's far from When Harry Met Sally, but certainly a step up from his previous two outings.

However intentional the message that Rumor Has It gets across is that nothing much has changed in all these years. The concept of marriage with it's all its frightening monogamous commitment is still every bit as daunting as it was when Dustin Hoffman could pass for a College kid. And Jennifer Aniston's hair is every bit as much a part of her screen presence as it was way back before there was such a thing as Must See T.V.

Grade: C+