2004 might only be a few years ago, but to think of all I’ve done and how much has changed in my life since then, it might as well be a lifetime ago. However, it’s times like these I think of it as the year Captain D often referred to me as a "write/off-aholic". Marginally better than being a workaholic I suppose, and a lot better than being an alcoholic. Since then though, I haven’t been writing anywhere near as many reviews as I used to, and I certainly can’t remember the last time I entered a write/off, let alone was invited to join. Still, now seems as good a time as any, and since the good Captain himself was kind enough to invite me along, I figured I’d piece together an entry for his Good Movies Write/Off.

Right, so Jennifer Aniston, yeah? Most people probably know who she is by now. She played Rachel on a little TV sitcom called Friends for ten years, and was married to Brad Pitt before he got together with Angelina Jolie. With Friends finished, it seems Aniston is the only one of the six main characters whose career has gone from strength to strength. I could spend a few pages theorizing as to why that is, but this ain’t the time or place. Still, considering how well her acting career is going, it seemed about time she was given the chance to carry a movie by herself, which is exactly what Rumor Has It attempts to let her do.

You may have already heard of The Graduate. Apparently, there’s a rumor that the events of that story are based on true events that took place in a small US town called Pasadena. The general gist goes something like this – a young man of about 21 sleeps with a woman twice his age. The woman’s daughter is engaged to be married, but one day gets cold feet and heads out of town for a while. She meets up with an old boyfriend she went to school with – who is the same young man who’s already slept with the mother. After sleeping with this man, the daughter decides she does want to marry her fiancé, so she heads home.

In Rumor Has It, Aniston plays Sarah, a young woman heading back to her hometown of Pasadena for her sister’s wedding. As the movie starts, Sarah reminisces of the times when the book and then the movie for The Graduate came out. But for Sarah, The Graduate is more than just a story allegedly based on true events. Already confused and unsure of her place in life, things are further complicated when her father makes a pre-wedding speech which reveals the date Sarah’s parents got married. Sarah’s boyfriend does some quick maths, and Sarah suddenly realises the timing of her conception means she was either born a few weeks early, or conceived a few weeks before the wedding. But Sarah’s mother – now dead – got cold feet a few weeks before said wedding and went out of town. Sarah puts the puzzle together, and starts to wonder if her mother could possibly be the daughter from The Graduate, and if so, does that mean her real father is the young man who started the whole thing by sleeping with a woman twice his age?

Sure, it’s all a bit far-fetched, but for Sarah it’s worth investigating, so she goes off on a journey to find this young man, and we as the audience take every step with her. What this essentially does is put Aniston in every scene, and as some questions appear to be answered a little too quickly, the main story disappears at times leaving Aniston to carry the film herself. Thankfully, she shows she’s got the ability to pull this off, and does it well. Mark my words, it should not be too long before this woman walks away with a Best Actress Oscar. In fact, had this film not been a little skimpy with the story, it could well have been the one to do it.

And that in itself is unfortunate, because the potential was certainly there in this story. The scenes involving The Graduate seem to be dealt with primarily at the beginning and end, with the middle being devoted mainly to a typical self-discovery story for Sarah, with just a few twists thrown in to remind Sarah (and the audience) of the possible complications that started this journey of hers. Had the middle section of the film fleshed out the Graduate side of the story, this could easily have gone from being a good movie to a great movie.

This may be Aniston’s film, but the supporting cast does a great job. Particular mention must go to Kevin Costner, who plays Beau Burroughs – the man who Sarah believes has slept with both her mother and her grandmother. Costner plays Burroughs as a likeable villain – he has to provide the answers Sarah needs, whether they’re the ones she wants to hear or not. You can’t help but think there’s something dodgy going on with him, but you believe everything he says anyway. Shirley McLaine makes an appearance as Sarah’s grandmother, and although I’ve not seen The Graduate, she somehow looked to me as if she’d just come off the set of said movie and stayed in character. I’m not really sure how that works, but in does… in my head anyway.

Really, I don’t think Rumor Has It has any right being as good as it is. To take a real movie and base this on rumors brought up in that is overly complicated, but if you’re going to do it, don’t abandon it in the middle of the movie. So there’s that. The supporting cast may do a good job but aside from Costner, none of them are really used enough and as such half of them aren’t even worth mentioning. Yet somehow, this is still an entertaining watch, and it’s all because of Jennifer Aniston. Her screen presence here is remarkable, and the movie could very easily be a dead weight without her.

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Combining Write/Offs, this is also my first entry into the EpiWriMo Write/Off hosted by Kamel622.

Recommended:
Yes