Dir. Rob Reiner, US, 2005, 95 mins
Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner, Mark Ruffalo, Shirley MacLaine, Mena Suvari
There’s a strange irony on show here. Rumor Has It, Rob Reiner’s latest piece of likeable fluff, makes much of recent cinematic history and in-jokes as its characters bumble about and try to sort out their various affections. As well as drawing on the story of The Graduate, Reiner’s picture features lines like ‘no, wrong movie’ or ‘that’s not on the script’. It’s film fun for film-fans. But this fascination with contemporary cinema is also the root of the film’s evil – for it ultimately lacks much originality or identity of its own.
While firmly a rom-com (that most timeless of genres), Rumor Has It contains a novel twist; common sense dictates that hesitant Sarah (Aniston) should marry Jeff (Ruffalo), her safe, reliable fiancée. But she is increasingly attracted to the illogical, risky but romantic option, older man Beau (Kevin Costner).
Unfortunately Beau has form in bedding Sarah’s family predecesors, including Sarah’s sprightly grandma, cynical Katharine (Shirley MacLaine). Worse still, Sarah comes to realise that Beau was the basis for Dustin Hoffman’s character in 1967’s The Graduate, with Katharine as the alluring Mrs Ross; the ramifications being that Beau just may be Sarah’s biological father.
While absurdly far fetched, this plot basis is also decidedly original. The idea of developing the plot of another film is a wonderfully positive and friendly thought, especially for movies that you adore. It suggests that pictures have a life beyond the cinematic cut - that no story in any film is truly finished. Distinct from an unimaginative spin-off, Rumor Has It looks behind the story of The Graduate, and expands on it, through Sarah’s relentless digging up of the recent family tree.
Sadly this uprooting is accompanied by some pretty lacklustre comedy. Be it slapstick, farcical moments of doors opening into faces, or the sharp one-liners that so delight canned audiences on American sitcoms, the jokes just do not come off. MacLaine’s character Katharine is the type who is meant to ‘steal every scene she is in’, the one who ‘gets all the best lines’. But scenes aren’t dominated by her wit, her lines aren’t that funny, and Katharine is not even that likeable. With its central comic persona misfiring, Rumor Has It becomes something of a damp squib jokes-wise.
But, as often happens in troubled times, unlikely heroes emerge. While Reiner fails to deliver on the ‘com’, he certainly does well with the ‘rom’, and the more serious, dramatic scenes. Sarah’s choice of suitor is made delightfully difficult, with no obvious right answer. As Beau, Costner downplays his normal youthful persona, presenting instead a handsome, likeable figure of bathos. Rival Jeff is far less expressive or inspiring, but far more sensible a choice age-wise. With neither of Sarah’s suitors being suitable, watching her struggle with her indecision is most enjoyable.
Sarah’s quest to understand the complicated events of her conception is also well handled, and is probably the film’s most competently handled plot-strand. This is largely because it features Rumor Has It’s two strongest performances. Six Feet Under actor Richard Jenkins is excellent as Sarah’s assumed father Earl, underplaying the role until a stirring scene where he finally explains who’s the real daddy. Opposite him, Aniston is terrific. For ten minutes, you fear she is reprising her Friends role as Rachel, a neurotic, ditzy annoyance. But subtly she adds depth to Sarah and renders appealing a character who easily could be irritating and trying. It is Aniston’s commendable presence that neatly raises this film above average territory.
Richard Mellor
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