Ten Stars or Less

Thank you to Rob over at MovieRob for showcasing Rob Reiner’s work on his website and for letting me contribute a few reviews.

release date: 25 December 2005 (Canada)
run time: 97 mins
rated: PG-13
considered: Comedy, Drama, Romance
director: Rob Reiner
starring: Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner, Shirley MacLaine, Mark Ruffalo, Richard Jenkins, Christopher McDonald, Steve Sandvoss, Mena Suvari, Mike Vogel, Rob Lanza, Lisa Vachon, Trevor Stock, Jennifer Taylor, Marcia Ann Burrs, Lynn Wanlass

movie summary: It would be a safe bet that the majority of people who love movies has watched The Graduate at some point in their lives. The movie from 19** stars Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft as a student and teacher who have an affair with each other. Some 30 years later Sarah Huttinger (Jennifer Aniston) learns the hard way that her mom and grandmother (Shirley MacLane) were the ladies the movie was based upon. While on a trip to her sister’s wedding, Sarah and fiance Jeff (Mark Ruffalo), will try their best to track down the playboy Beau Burroughs (Kevin Costner) to find out if he is Sarah’s real dad. When neither of them can uncover anything, Sarah decides to risk everything to fly to San Francisco and confront Beau at a convention. Little does she know that her life is about to be turned upside when she comes face to face with the man whose slept with both her mom and grandmother.

my thoughts: When I was doing research for this movie review, I learnt that Rumor Has It… was scheduled to be released on Christmas Day in 2005. This movie has been out for almost a decade and I never bothered to watch it until this past week for MovieRob’s Rob Reiner blogathon. There was a reason why I skipped this movie and now looking back I can honestly say I’m sorry people were disappointed on Christmas morning when this movie hit theatres. I’m not trying to say this is the worse movie I’ve ever seen, I just have a few problems with the storyline that drove me nuts. 

I’ve seen The Graduate once before and don’t have any plans to watch it again. Rumor Has It… is a unique story which actually uses a classic movie as the jumping point to create another movie plot. Jennifer Aniston is a great lead for a movie that is meant to be hysterical and all over the place but really wasn’t. She’s in a really stressful situation because she just got engaged and her younger sister is getting married before her. It’s been years since she’s seen her family in person and dreads the whole trip west. When doubts begin to surface about her upcoming marriage and childhood, she’s SO stupid to throw everything away to chase down a rumor. It’s funny to learn her family is behind the story of the The Graduate, but there’s no need to throw away her loving boyfriend (Jeff) in that pursuit. It’s okay to get cold feet when making a life altering decision even though getting married is supposed to be a great thing. I can’t really get into all the mistakes Sarah makes because it would give away a major turning point in the story, but know I hated her character for being so stupid, reckless, and selfish.

Another major star of the story who is not selfish or stupid is Kevin Costner’s Beau Burroughs character. This guy is straight out of The Great Gatsby story. He’s rich, famous, powerful, charming, attractive, and will always get whatever he wants. I loved his character, despite his weird desires, because I wish I had his luxurious life. On top of being a very rich investor he is also a pilot who can show any lucky lady the world, except he always chooses the wrong one. It is really hilarious and awkward when Sarah gets Beau in a corner to find out if he her dad, while getting the details of the encounters he’s had with her mom and grandmother. The situation spirals out of control while the wine flows and Beau uses his charm to once again get what he wants. Of course a guy like that is not used to rejection, but gets a heavy dose of reality at the end of the movie. After that he kinda fades away and is a complete after thought which doesn’t make much sense considering he’s the whole reason the movie took place. Sure there may be a hilarious joke about him at the very end but you could easily forget him when the story shifts to Sarah’s self-destruction.

There’s a lot of praise out there for Shirley MacLane in this movie. I personally didn’t feel she did anything special in the movie except to try to look sexy after all these years. The one character that stood out more than anyone else was Mark Ruffalo’s Jeff. He instantly reminded me of his character in 13 Going on 30, where he is just there and is the one waiting forever for his girl to finally come to her senses. I felt really bad for all the trouble he goes through with putting up with Aniston’s character for an hour and half. He deserved a better fate then what the cards dealt him, kinda like the audience who had to sit through this crazy story.

my final thoughts: I hate to break to all of you but if you have ever watched the trailer for Rumor Has It… then you have seen every single funny scene. There’s nothing more in the movie which follows the footsteps of a very crazy family and the poor life decisions they have made. Even if you find yourself bored and need something to watch, that will not stick in your head, I wouldn’t recommend Rumor Has It… because it could have been so much more than it was.

my star rating: 3 out 10

imdb: 5.5 out 10 
metascore: 35/100 
rottentomatoes: 20% out 100% 
roger ebert: 3 out 4
richard crouse: n/a