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Rumour Has It (2005)

Director: Rob Reiner

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1 review

Movie review

From Time Out London

The long-circulating rumour in sunny, wealthy Pasadena is that novelist Charles Webb based ‘The Graduate’ on real individuals. So, when journo Jennifer Aniston returns home and wonders why she’s never felt like she belongs with her own family, a lightbulb starts to illuminate. Her mum’s dead, which eliminates the Katherine Ross character in the movie, but if brassy grandma Shirley MacLaine is Anne Bancroft, then who’s Dustin Hoffman? And is he really her dad? The trail leads to smoothie media magnate Kevin Costner, and that’s where it starts getting complicated – and substantially less amusing than you’d expect from the intriguing scenario.

Reiner’s sleepy direction smothers the material, which needed much more edge to begin to take off, while the cast are uniformly at their worst. Aniston in particular is an exasperating collection of tics in response to a character on the unplayable side of ditsy. Her romantic scenes with Costner would be creepy enough without the incestuous overtones, while Mark Ruffalo’s wasted as the faithful stand-by boyfriend. A glossy catastrophe.

Author: TJ

Time Out London Issue 1849: January 25-February 1 2006

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User reviews of this film

Tina said...

Posted on Sep 27 2007 10:28 I had heard some bad reviews about this film, but being an Aniston fan i thought i'd give it a go, and i was pleasantly surprised. It's not a brilliant film by any means, but it is enjoyable to watch and entertaining throughout.

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