Rumour Has It is an enjoyable enough romantic comedy starring Jennifer Aniston as Sarah Huttinger, a woman who is still trying to work out who she is and is dreading a visit to her dysfunctional family for her younger sister’s wedding. If that all sounds terribly familiar then you may have read my recent review of The Wedding Date, which starts along very similar lines. However, Rumour Has It is a much more satisfying film, albeit not exactly amazing.

Accompanying Sarah is her fiancé, Jeff Daly (Mark Ruffalo). She wants to keep the marriage secret for a while, ostensibly so that she doesn’t "steal her sister’s thunder", but he’s beginning to have doubts about her ability or desire to commit. To top everything off she finds out that her family may well have been the inspiration for the famous book / film “The Graduate”, and becomes obsessed with finding the man that both her mother (who is now dead) and her obnoxious grandmother Katherine (Shirley MacLaine) had flings with. With all this going on, and the fact that she was already confused and perhaps rather foolish, it comes as no real surprise when she beings to make a complete mess out of everything. However, she readily admits her mistakes and doesn’t try to pass the blame on to anyone else, which makes her a character we can really empathise with and care about. The film keeps a good balance between drama and comedy, and there is some good dialogue scattered throughout the film. The acting too threatens occasionally to lift this movie above average, but never for quite long enough to actually do it.

Aniston is pretty good in the lead role though it’s very difficult to really differentiate her character from Rachel in Friends at any point. I like Ruffalo’s acting as a whole though in the first few scenes he seemed to me to be just a bit too laconic. There are scenes later on, especially with him and Earl (Sarah’s father) where he is a little zany. His philosophy on life shows this too: ”Life has to be a little nuts sometimes. Otherwise it's just a bunch of Thursdays strung together.
”. The man the women of the family all love is played by Kevin Costner, who I though was very good in a role which isn’t really like any I’ve seen him play before. Richard Jenkins as Earl gave a typically enjoyable performance, and Mena Suvari really shone as Sarah’s younger sister. Shirley MacLaine is really good at playing the sort of woman you’d never want to be related to – or even meet for that matter – and this movie is no exception.

On the whole though this was a pretty pedestrian affair, with some good ideas but neither the script nor acting ever seemed to really shift into a high gear, and it never seems to do much with the quite interesting premise. The soundtrack is pretty good and there was some nice photography. Despite its faults, Rumour Has It had plenty of funny bits and was overall rather enjoyable. I would recommend it to anyone who likes romcoms, just don’t expect it to be brilliant or you’ll be disappointed.

Other Information

Director: Rob Renier (When Harry Met Sally, The Princess Bride, Stand By Me)
Year of release 2005
Runtime: 96 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for mature thematic material, sexual content, crude humor and a drug reference. (UK rating 12A)

Quotes

Annie: I'm the most screwed-up person in the world!
Sarah: You're not even the most screwed-up person in this room!

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Jeff: You know, I never told you this, but they based a movie on my family. Seriously. Titanic. They changed it a little. There's not boat, nothing sank. But I did pose naked for a portrait once.

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Katharine: Life is short, but marriage is long... so drink up, and it will make it go a hell of a lot faster.

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Sarah: Maybe every girl in my family have to sleep with you.
Beau Burroughs: I don't know if they have to, but they certainly have.

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Related Links

Jennifer Aniston: The Break-Up

Mark Ruffalo: 13 Going on 30

Richard Jenkins - Fun with Dick and Jane, Shall We Dance, Cheaper by the Dozen, Random Hearts

See also:
Top Ten Movies of 2005
Top Ten Romantic Comedies


Recommended: Yes