More dramatic and less comedic than advertised, this isn't something that'll leave a lasting impression, but then, Mike Nichols didn't think The Graduate would either.
Rumor Has It... (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:106
Fresh:21
Rotten:85
Average Rating:4.4/10
Consensus: This riff on The Graduate has a solid cast, but is too lightweight to fully register.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for mature thematic material, sexual content, crude humor and a drug reference
Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:Dec 25, 2005 Wide
Box Office: $42,747,869
Synopsis: With the romantic comedy RUMOR HAS IT, director Rob Reiner (WHEN HARRY MET SALLY) attempts the tricky task of creating a film based on an already celebrated classic, 1967's THE GRADUATE. Starring... With the romantic comedy RUMOR HAS IT, director Rob Reiner (WHEN HARRY MET SALLY) attempts the tricky task of creating a film based on an already celebrated classic, 1967's THE GRADUATE. Starring Dustin Hoffman and based on a novel by Charlie Webb, the original film revolved around the love triangle between a recent college-graduate, his girlfriend, and her famously seductive mother. Here, Reiner casts a chain-smoking Shirley MacLaine as the supposed real-life inspiration for Mrs. Robinson, and Jennifer Aniston as her granddaughter. Set for the most part within the gossipy community of Pasadena, California, the film follows Sarah Huttinger (Aniston) and her fiancé (Mark Ruffalo) as they travel home for her perky sister's (Mena Suvari) wedding. Having nothing in common with her family, Sarah is intrigued upon learning that she may actually be the secret love child of her deceased mother and Beau Borroughs (Kevin Costner), the man whose affairs with both Sarah's mother and grandmother supposedly inspired Charlie Webb, a classmate and friend of Beau, to write THE GRADUATE. From here, Sarah seeks out Beau, interested in him as a father-like figure and possibly more. Aniston brings a Rachel-like (FRIENDS) comic vibe to her character, frequently expressing her neuroses by talking to herself out loud in a sitcom-ish style. Costner is plenty capable in his role, but even with Beau's riches and charm, viewers may find it hard to understand why a young woman would embark on a romance with the same man who bedded her mother and grandmother. Reiner's script veers away from the classic romantic comedy formula by keeping Ruffalo's character at the sidelines. Rather, RUMOR HAS IT focuses on one woman's journey towards adulthood, self-realization, and acceptance of her origins via a path that while strange and potentially incestuous, seems to be family tradition. [More]
Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner, Shirley MacLaine, Mark Ruffalo
Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner, Shirley MacLaine, Mark Ruffalo, Mena Suvari, Kathy Bates, Richard Jenkins, Christopher McDonald, Steve Sandvoss, Mike Vogel
Director: Rob Reiner
Director: Rob Reiner
Screenwriter: Ted Griffin
Composer: Marc Shaiman
Studio: Warner Bros.
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Reviews for Rumor Has It...
Buried deep inside this misbegotten comedy is the glimmer of an idea.
These are shallow, vacuous people who have somewhere along the way confused narcissism with introspection, [and] we the audience are forced to watch them struggle across the vast wastelands of their titanic egos
Ask yourself: is it worth it to sit through a long, horribly told story to get to a nice, simple moral?
Contrived to the max and surprisingly unfunny, Rumor Has It is this year's theatrical Christmas turkey.
For awhile, the movie gives off an unsettling vibe, as Sarah sort of flirts with a guy who may be her dad. This is eventually explained, but the film takes one more trip to Ickville before it ends.
A slight movie in-joke in search of a feature-length reason to exist. It's never found.
True invention is crushed by Reiner's steamroller direction, and his abilities to capture whatever it was that made Ted Griffin want to write a screenplay like this are lost to cinema heavens.
Rumor Has It doesn't seem to realize who its most interesting character is and spend some time with her. Coo, coo, ca choo, Mrs. Robinson. Here's to you.
Becalmed in this ghastly, would-be comedy, Aniston can do little to mitigate its ickiness.
Rumor has it that this movie is really, really good, but that's only half true.
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