Rumor Has It: Film #117 of Film 365

Friday 6th January 2012

Director: Rob Reiner
Year: 2005
Stars: Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner, Shirley MacLaine, Mark Ruffalo, Richard Jenkins

I wasn't especially in the mood for a romantic comedy - I've seen a lot of them lately, and would have been happy to watch something in a different genre. But this was somewhere near the top of the list of recorded movies, Dan wasn't home, and I knew it wasn't something he'd miss if I watched it without him.

The premise behind Rumour Has It isn't a bad one - it's relatively unique, if nothing else. Sarah Huttinger (Aniston) discovers that her mother and grandmother are the real-life subjects of the move The Graduate, and goes on a search to discover who her father really is. The problem with the movie is Aniston - or rather, the character she plays. You're clearly meant to sympathise with her, but she's the most obnoxious, brattish woman I've watched in a movie for a while. She makes her fiancée go and get her a copy of The Graduate from the video store just before her sister's wedding, for goodness sake. Then spends the entire wedding moping around instead of being happy for her (relatively lovely, in comparison) sister. And has she not heard of the internet? She only uses the video to check who wrote the book. Really?

At one point in the movie, her (also rather lovely, but something of a sap to put up with her) fiancée basically dumps her. I won't say why, but his reasons are pretty solid. At this point, you're clearly meant to be on Sarah's side. Except all I could think is "good on you, now go and find yourself a decent woman".

I'm not sure if all this means Aniston's a good actress for making me hate the character quite so much, or an awful actress for, well, the same reason. Either way, it made what would have been a perfectly acceptable romantic comedy into something of an annoying one.

Rating: 2 out of 5

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About Me

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I live in Bristol with my husband Dan (who I married in July 2007), my son Joe (born 2012) and daughter Jess (born 2015). I work at UWE (the University of the West of England) in Bristol as a Research and Open Access Librarian. I'm orginally from Exeter, so moving back to Bristol is a bit like coming home - especially as I studied for my undergraduate degree here (also at UWE). I love travelling and movies, although I get to do a lot less of both since the birth of our children. Although we have still managed to fit in holidays to the Isles of Scilly, Chamonix and a summer in California since Joe was born.