Rumor Has It Review
Posted by Matthew Craggs on 01.02.2006
Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.
Warner Brothers presents a romantic comedy written by Ted Griffin and directed by Rob Reiner. Starring Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner, Shirley McLaine, Mark Ruffalo, Richard Jenkins and Mena Suvari. Runtime 96 minutes. Rated PG-13 for material thematic material, sexual content, crude humor and a drug reference.
Legend says that Harvey Weinstein wanted to cast David Schwimmer, Jon Stewart, and Drew Barrymore in Kevin Smith's Chasing Amy. Anyone who has seen the picture, a staple of the mid-1990s indie film movement, knows just how ludicrous that is. Smith refused, instead choosing to finance the film himself. "If you like it, you buy it," he told Miramax. "If you don't like it, don't buy it."
The mere thought of David Schwimmer as the awestruck Holden McNeil is enough to make your head spin. The picture wouldn't have worked if it was the guy who played Ross Geller chasing hard as nails lesbian Drew Barrymore. It doesn't matter that Smith wrote an amazing script and had a wonderful eye for how to shoot it, he knew it wouldn't work. Rob Reiner, I guess, is no Kevin Smith.
Rumour Has It is Harvey Weinstein presents Chasing Amy. The plot is not the same but the concept of miscasting in the name of A-list names is in effect.
Jennifer Aniston is Sarah Huttinger, a sort of journalist (she writes obituaries) who is engaged to lawyer Jeff (Mark Ruffalo). The couple comes home to California for Sarah's younger sister's wedding. Sarah admits her cold feet to her grandmother Kartharine (Shirley MacLaine) and learns through some buzzed-on-Bloody-Mary's talk that her deceased mother took off a week before she got married to have a fling in Mexico.
Following me so far? Good.
Sarah does some math in her head and figures out that she was either conceived while her mother was in Mexico, or in one of the few days after she came back.
Still with me? Good.
Sarah tries to figure out who this man she ran away with was, and discovers that the book and film The Graduate was based on her own family. The only difference is that Benjamin didn't get the girl. Instead, the girl got hitched.
Are you still with me? Because I'm getting a little confused as well, and I saw the film.
Sarah goes on a wild goose chase to find the real life Benjamin, who turns out to be internet entrepreneur Beau Burroughs (Kevin Costner). The film is set in 1997, so being an internet entrepreneur meant a lot more then than it does now.
At the risk of spoiling a bit too much, Beau couldn't have been Sarah's father for reasons which I will keep a secret. Learning that it is impossible to be her father, Sarah falls into the same trap that her mother did, and flings it up with the wealthy Beau.
Confusing? I know. Let me put it this way: Kevin Costner (Benjamin Braddock) slept with Shirley MacLaine (Mrs Robinson), Shirley MacLaine's daughter (Elaine Robinson) and now, Mrs. Robinson's granddaughter. In other words, he wound up in bed with three generations of women. As tough to follow as it seems on paper, it makes sense when watching the picture as an episode of Law and Order does. Sure, there may be lots of people to keep track off, but even though you don't know the legal lingo you have a vague idea of what's going on. Of course, if you haven't seen The Graduate, you will be completely lost. But who hasn't seen The Graduate?
It is an interesting concept, but falls apart in the casting. A-list celebrities are tossed into the mix in an attempt to get some chemistry going, but it falls flat. The best example is Mark Ruffalo as Sarah's fiancé. Ruffalo is fine for the hardened men roles. As the tortured, lonely man in My Life Without Me he seems like he fits in with the character. In this picture he plays the wimpy guy who looks like a wounded kitten. Ruffalo shouldn't be cast as a kitten.
At one point, real life Mrs. Robinson wants a moment alone with Sarah. She says to Ruffalo, "Go play with your dick." Ruffalo cheerfully gives the two women time alone. This line is meant to be funny but comes across as confusing. If the joke is meant to imply that Ruffalo is a manly man, he is anything but. In fact, he is the most sensitive man in a film full of sensitive man. The joke plays like a lame attempt to evoke in the audience the gender roles engrained in us by more hypermasculine cinema. This is a shame because one of the things Rumour Has It has going for it is that it doesn't have the gender bias that nine out of ten Hollywood pictures has. In fact, as a feminist text Rumour Has It is quite progressive.
Instead, these positives are drowned by the horrible casting and subsequent horrible performances, and its potential. The film did not need more talented actors, but more appropriate ones. It was also supposed to be a comedy, and needed to take advantage of more opportunities presented.
The film did offer one great line, though. When Aniston suspects Costner lied about his infertility to sleep with her, she tells him, "This isn't The Graduate, this is Deliverance." Unfortunately, Reiner and writer Griffin shy away from the taboo topic that had the potential to elicit bigger laughs.
The 411: Great idea, quite progressive, but ultimately failed as the wrong people were chosen to get the job done, and the writer didn’t grasp a few golden opportunity for big laughs.
