Rumor Has It... : ルーマー・ハズ・イット… @ シネマコンプレックス[シネコン]: CineMa Complex

/ 2005-12-26 *spoilers ahead*

"Rumor Has It" is a romantic comedy of a young woman named Sarah (Jennifer Aniston), who comes to believe and discover that the novel and movie, "The Graduate" is actually based on a family secret. Sarah goes in search of Beau Burroughs whom she mistakenly believes is her father, but Beau actually had a tryst with her grandmother and then with her mother (1 week before the wedding to Sarah's father). Sarah feels out of place with her family and confused about her life. She can't relate to the people in Pasadena and feels like she doesn't fit in to that life, or even with her family. Her mom died when she was young and Sarah believes that her mother was in an unhappy marriage, this later is shown to be untrue.

Jeff (Mark Ruffalo) is Sarah's supportive boyfriend that she's engaged to but Sarah doesn't even wear her engagement ring, because she's scared of marriage and what it might mean. She questions why her mother really got married and whether getting married is worth it, and if that's what she wants to do. Sarah eventually sleeps "accidentally" with Beau and tries to fight her attraction to him. Sarah must then make a choice of what she wants and which guy she wants by her side. "Rumor Has It" isn't a bad movie, yet its not a great one. That seems to be the recurring theme of the movies this year.

The movie does tie up loose ends, the dialogue is witty and unique in many ways. Jeff is played brilliantly by Mark Ruffalo. In just a few scenes he manages to show how much he cares for Sarah and what she means to him. He's very sure of how he feels for her and that he wants to get married, but she's not quite as sure. I loved the scene where he basically told her how he felt. Its much more realistic and I loved Sarah's response, "I can live without you but I just don't want to." Shirley MacLaine has the best lines in this movie, "you want more to your life, get in line kid." I loved that line. Its hilarious how her character doesn't like to be called grandma. This is mostly done as a tongue-in-cheek type of thing. This movie is definitely a chick flick and a feel good movie.

Not everything works, Mena Suvari plays Annie, Sarah's perky sister who "bounces" and is somewhat annoying. At times Jennifer Aniston's lines in the movie are unnecessary and it feels that the screenwriters were unsure of what direction to take with a movie whose inspiration is "The Graduate." There are beautiful shots of California, particularly when Beau and Sarah spend the day together, drinking wine. I'm not sure what's going on with Rob Reiner these days, it seems like he's making more flops recently yet thankfully he manages to not take this film into that direction. "Rumor Has It" almost has it right.

As a film viewer it feels like Sarah could have been played by anyone and it should have been played by someone who can handle comedy much better. Jennifer Aniston reminds me of Sandra Bullock, who tries to do comedy but isn't naturally talented at it. Don't get me wrong Jennifer Aniston isn't bad but she's not great at comedy. It seems like she's better off doing drama and more serious movies, she was good in "The Good Girl." Many actresses like Nicole Kidman, Catherine Zeta-Jones and other A-listers end up doing great movies where they don't have to be comedians. I didn't plan on seeing this movie but I missed "King Kong" because I was a few minutes late to the theatre and I didn't feel like fighting with the crowd to scope out a seat. This was the next movie the theatre was playing and I was pleasantly surprised. The theatre where "Rumor Has It" was playing, wasn't packed but there was a decent amount of people there, and they also laughed at many of the jokes.

One thing though, I'd like to see Mark Ruffalo in more leading male roles, he's a great actor. I'd like to see him play in roles where he's not just the boyfriend. Its nice to see new, talented actors instead of seeing the same old faces. Shirley MacLaine should also be in more movies; leading roles, obviously she's great at pulling off sarcasm and wit. This woman really commands the screen. Why is it that when great actresses get older that they end up doing the mom and grandmother roles. It isn't bad, but it seems that even older male actors seem to be reduced to such roles such as Michael Caine. That's kind of sad. I don't envy actors in that regard. Anyhow, this is a great movie in many ways, give it a chance, you just might like it.