Rumor Has It

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
Jennifer Aniston stars in this romantic comedy from director Rob Reiner. Aniston plays Sarah Huttinger, a young woman who travels back to visit her family in California and is shocked to learn that they were supposedly the model for the classic book and film 'The Graduate', and that her youthful grandmother Katharine (Shirley MacLaine) could be the real-life Mrs Robinson. In which case, Sarah begins to suspect that wealthy family friend Beau Burroughs (Kevin Costner) could have been the young man who had tumultuous affairs with both her mother and grandmother.

AMAZON REVIEW
Rumour Has It brings together several people whose film career could usefully use a jolt. Kevin Costner, the excellent and pretty much unseen The Upside Of Anger aside, is long in need of a hit. Director Rob Reiner is some distance away from the heights of his big successes such as When Harry Met Sally and A Few Good Men. And the calibre of Jennifer Anistons movie CV has her still mainly regarded as Rachel from Friends.

Sadly, Rumour Has It does none of them any favours. It follows Anistons quest to dig into her family history, believing as she does that her mother and grandmother inspired the book of The Graduate. Its a fun premise, yet the film does little with it. The script is lightweight, the humour is thin on the ground, and only good performances from Costner and the scene-stealing Shirley Maclaine lift it in any way.

As for Rob Reiner, hes very much a director for hire here. Hes considerably far off his best work, and while Rumour Has It isnt, ultimately, a poor film, it is an entirely unessential and sparse one. A waste of all the talents concerned, each of whom is easily capable of bettering this.--Simon Brew