...
►►► Opinion
I first heard about "Rumour Has It" a couple of months before its cinematic release and with a star studded cast which includes Jennifer Anniston, Kevin Costner, Mark Ruffalo and Shirley MacLaine as well as having Rob Reiner at the helm I thought it may ... Read review
At last there's a movie for anyone who's ever looked at the eccentrics and oddballs in his ... more
or her family and wondered: Who are these people? Jennifer Aniston stars in and Rob Reiner (When Harry Met Sally...) directs a star-powered romantic comedy about...
At last there's a movie for anyone who's ever looked at the eccentrics and oddballs in his ... more
or her family and wondered: Who are these people? Jennifer Aniston stars in and Rob Reiner (When Harry Met Sally...) directs a star-powered romantic comedy about family, love, marriage and other major catastrophes.Aniston portrays Sarah Huttinger, whose return home with her fiance convinces her that the sedate, proper, country-club lifestyle of her family isn't for her, and that maybe the Huttinger family isn't even hers. Join Sarah as she uncovers secrets that suggest the Huttingers are neither sedate nor proper - and as Kevin Costner, Shirley MacLaine and Mark Ruffalo join the fun.The story is rumor. The laughs are real!
AT last there's a movie for anyone who's ever looked at the eccentrics and oddballs in his ... more
or her family and wondered: Who are these people? Jennifer Aniston stars in and Rob Reiner (When Harry Met Sally...) directs a star-powered romantic comedy about family, love, marriage and other major catastrophes.Aniston portrays Sarah Huttinger, whose return home with her fiance convinces that her sedate, proper, country-club lifestyle of her family isn't for her, and that maybe the Huttinger family isn't even hers. Join Sarah as she uncovers secrets that suggest the Huttingers are neither sedate nor proper - and as Kevin Costner, Shirley MacLaine and Mark Ruffalo join the fun. The story is rumour. The laughs are real!!
A sweet funny and romantic novel from the Sunday Times No. 1 bestseller. When newly ... more
single Tilly Cole impulsively quits her London job for a fresh start in the small town of Roxborough she finds she's arrived in a hotbed of gossip intrigue and rampant rivalry for the most desirable men. Tilly has no intention of joining in -- she's just happy with her new Girl Friday job. Then she meets Jack Lucas. Jack is irresistible! and he's got his eye on Tilly. But there are shocking rumours about his wicked reputation. Tilly doesn't want to be just another notch on anyone's bedpost. But is she being mature and sensible -- or is she running away from the love of her life?
Postage & Packaging:£0.00 Availability:3-5 working days
A sweet, funny and romantic novel from the Sunday Times No. 1 bestseller. When newly ... more
single Tilly Cole impulsively quits her London job for a fresh start in the small town of Roxborough she finds she's arrived in a hotbed of gossip, intrigue and rampant rivalry for the most desirable men.
Postage & Packaging:refer to website Availability:in stock
A sweet funny and romantic novel from the Sunday Times No. 1 bestseller. When newly ... more
single Tilly Cole impulsively quits her London job for a fresh start in the small town of Roxborough she finds she's arrived in a hotbed of gossip intrigue and rampant rivalry for the most desirable men. Tilly has no intention of joining in -- she's just happy with her new Girl Friday job. Then she meets Jack Lucas. Jack is irresistible...and he's got his eye on Tilly. But there are shocking rumours about his wicked reputation. Tilly doesn't want to be just another notch on anyone's bedpost. But is she being mature and sensible -- or is she running away from the love of her life?
Postage & Packaging:£0.00 Availability:3-5 working days
Comedy - Director: Tony Dow - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: John Challis, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Tessa Peake-Jones, Gwyneth Strong
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
Advantages: A good idea for a film, some reasonable performances Disadvantages: An under worked plot, lack of romantic chemistry, not enough humour
►►► Synopsis
Having returned home with her fiancé for her sister's wedding, Sarah (Jennifer Aniston) starts to doubt whether she really is her father's daughter, especially when she discovers that her mother and her grand mother bother had relations with the same man, which was the basis of the book and film The Graduate. Desperate to discover the truth she goes in search of the man, Beau Burroughs (Kevin Costner) ... ...►►► Opinion
I first heard about "Rumour Has It" a couple of months before its cinematic release and with a star studded cast which includes Jennifer Anniston, Kevin Costner, Mark Ruffalo and Shirley MacLaine as well as having Rob Reiner at the helm I thought it may have a chance to standing out against the numerous other films in the romantic-comedy genre. Sadly it didn't live up to my expectations, and ... more
►►► Synopsis
Having returned home with her fiancé for her sister's wedding, Sarah (Jennifer Aniston) starts to doubt whether she really is her father's daughter, especially when she discovers that her mother and her grand mother bother had relations with the same man, which was the basis of the book and film The Graduate. Desperate to discover the truth she goes in search of the man, Beau Burroughs (Kevin Costner) who may be her father.
►►► Opinion
I first heard about "Rumour Has It" a couple of months before its cinematic release and with a star studded cast which includes Jennifer Anniston, Kevin Costner, Mark Ruffalo and Shirley MacLaine as well as having Rob Reiner at the helm I thought it may have a chance to standing out against the numerous other films in the romantic-comedy genre. Sadly it didn't live up to my expectations, and whilst it is far from being the worst film to have graced the big screen, it is just another average film, which although watch able never really fires on all cylinders. For me this is a great shame as the premise of using the brilliant "The Graduate" as inspiration for a new story lends itself to a huge amount of scope, sadly hugely under worked in "Rumour Has IT"
To be honest the actual plot to the film is pretty good and throws up a few twists, some expected some not, which keeps you interested on what the outcome maybe, but then you can guess the outcome pretty much from the start. Ignoring the predictability, the attempt at extending the story of "The Graduate" to now encounter a third generation of the same family is indeed very clever and is probably the saving grace of this film. But at the same time, it lacks the intelligence and punch of the original film and that is mainly down to this trying to be a modern romantic-comedy. This issue is caused by the film struggling to decide what it really wants to be, is it a comedy, a romance or a drama, in fact it is a bit of each but the blend fails to work. The comedy at times is masterful, with Ruffalo putting across some great dead pan one liners, but then a lot of the time the comedy is pitiful and so generic that the jokes seem to have been used throughout numerous films and have a bit of the yawn factor about them. The romance, well to be honest what romance, there is no chemistry between any of the stars and the actual romantic element of the plot is seriously under worked, leaving me feeling empty to the feelings of any of the pivotal characters. Then there is the drama, and again the film provides some that actually works leaving me wondering as to what will happen, but then a lot of the drama feels like it has been thrown in as padding to try and make more of a plot which in my opinion really needed some serious re-writing. This Jack of all trades master of none approach leaves the film wanting of one real direction, but despite this it is still watch able and actually grows on you the more times you watch it.
One of my concerns when I saw that Jennifer Aniston was playing the lead was whether this would be yet another film which suffered the curse of "Friends", but thankfully Aniston manages to put in a much better performance than she usually does. The character of Sarah herself is pretty undefined and all we really learn is that she has a fiancé, she differs to the rest of her family in what she likes and is a little bit head strong, other than that the character really has no history. But in the case of this film it doesn't really give us a problem as the way Aniston brings the character to life is much more than is expected. But as mentioned earlier there is a huge problem, that being the lack of chemistry and everyone, including Aniston, seems to be playing their characters in isolation of everyone around them. The same can be said of Costner who despite this issue proves that he can act in a role other than action hero as he does a reasonable job in this "romantic" role. Where my issues do occur is in the performance of Mark Ruffalo as Jeff, Sarah's fiancé, who really doesn't seem to put his heart into it. His acting comes across as wooden and his delivery of lines is at times so monotone, especially in moments of drama, but then for a lot of the film his character is not the focus. But he really is the only major weak link in a film which also sees Shirley MacLaine and Richard Jenkins putting in very enjoyable performances.
Compared to director Rob Reiner's earlier films which include the brilliant "When Harry Met Sally" and the moving "Stand By Me" this really is a bit of a let down. Whilst there are some very nice touches about the film, they are few and far between and if I was truly cynical would say Reiner's heart was never really in it. In some ways I can see what he was trying to achieve with a feel which I would say was similar to that of Nancy Meyer's "Something's Gotta Give" but fails to deliver as many situations of humour or any real empathy with the characters. Another disappointment is a soundtrack which although has some prominent tunes including "Moonlight Serenade" and "Baby, You've Got What It Takes" never really feels in touch with what is happening on the screen.
►►► Film Summary
For a film which possibly could have been one of the best romantic-comedies of recent years it failed to really deliver. It really struggles to decide what it wants to be, a comedy, a romance or a drama and this indecision really causes the film to fail to achieve anything more than just another average rom-com. Saying that, it is watch able despite the problems with an under worked plot, and lack of chemistry between the stars. Whilst it would never be top of my list of films I would recommend to others to watch it is still worth at least one viewing especially for anyone wanting a reasonable film to while away an hour and a half.
►►► Price & Availability
Amazon.co.uk: £5.97
►►► Technical Details
Certificate: 12 Duration: 93 mins Year of Release: 2005 Genre: Comedy, Romance
Director(s): Rob Reiner Writer(s): Ted Griffin
Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner, Shirley MacLaine, Mark Ruffalo, Richard Jenkins, Christopher McDonald, Steve Sandvoss, Mena Suvari, Mike Vogel
Advantages: Jen Aniston, original storyline Disadvantages: Contrived
...her biological Father…
Rumour Has It, although starring a brilliant cast is a film that kind of slipped under the radar for me, I don’t recall it being out at the cinema in 2006 although I’m sure it was. I didn’t actually sit up and take notice of this film before I saw it on Sky Movies a year or two ago and that was strictly a coincidence because I happened to miss the first 10 minutes or so. Since then I have bought the film on DVD after thoroughly ... ...also the premise of what Rumour Has It is all about. The brief synopsis at the beginning I found to be very helpful as this film aims to appeal to people of all ages and it means that you don’t have to have watched The Graduate to enjoy this film.
The way they’ve managed to create a spin off from the 60’s film I personally think is very clever. The one thing I didn’t really understand was why the film had to be set in 1997, Jennifer Aniston’s character ...
Great_reviewer07 08.06.2009
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Rumour Has It (DVD)
Advantages: A great idea for a film! Good dependanble cast of actors. Disadvantages: Rather disjointed. Doesn't quite live up to expectations.
...sister's wedding. Pasadena, or so rumour has it, is the home of the actual people that inspired the novel and subsequent film of the same name, "The Graduate". Sarah feels out-of-place among her family and begins to put events in her family's history together. She accuses her grandmother of being "Anne Bancroft" to her dead mother's Elaine Robinson and her ex-boyfriend Beau Burroughs' Ben Braddock. Where does that leave her? A calculation of dates ... ...directorial debute on this film. Rumour has it though that stormy relationships with some of the stars of the film were to cause him to hand the director's reins to Rob Reiner. Rob Reiner has a presigous history as dierector of romantic-comedies with such delights as "The Princess Bride" and."When Harry meets Sally". In "Rumour has it", Reiner does an OK job but does not seem to bring the film together with most of the sub-plots running along somewhat ...
MAFARRIMOND 30.09.2007
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Rumour Has It (DVD)
Advantages: Great premise Disadvantages: Doesn't live Up to It's Promise
I loved the premise of this film when I heard it and thought it a great, original twist. The idea is that Charles Webb's novel 'The Graduate', and the subsequent film with Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft were actually based on a real Californian family, and that Benjamin Braddock (The Graduate) slept with both mother and daughter. Fortunately the film doesn't try and keep us guessing as to which family it is, although it takes a while for the penny ... ...It is 1997 and Sarah and her secret fiancé Jeff (Mark Ruffalo) return to Pasadena for her sister Annie's (Mena Suvari) wedding. Early on we understand that her mother Jocelyn died when the girls were children and they were brought up by their dad Earl (Richard Jenkins) ably assisted by Grandma Katherine Richelieu (Shirley MacLaine). The night before Annie's wedding Katherine reveals to Sarah that her mother run off a week before her wedding and returned ...
Essexgirl2006 21.10.2006
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Rumour Has It (DVD)
Advantages: Not dire, but not that great either Disadvantages: Poor chemistry between the cast, plot strays too much
...I initially had thought!
Rumour Has It has what could be an incredibly interesting plot line which could have gone any numbers of ways. Aniston plays Sarah Huttinger, a woman who finds out that her family may well be the basis for the infamous book and movie of The Graduate. While she is home in Pasedena for her sister Annie's wedding (Mena Suvari), she and fiance Jeff (Mark Ruffalo) attempt to find out what happened with Sarah's mother before she ... ...The Graduate is based upon the Huttinger family!
I thought, as I mentioned, that this would be an interesting plot, and that they would be able to weave a great and intersting story from it. However, this was not the case. It took about half an hour for the movie to actually bring about this plot line to the forefront of the whole thing, and then to be honest, I felt it dropped it far too quickly and moved off on another tangent. It was almost like ...
mummy2harry 22.11.2007
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Rumour Has It (DVD)
Advantages: Sometimes funny, nice storyline, good cast Disadvantages: Nothing new or special, just another RomCom
...it was all just a rumour after all?
Jennifer Aniston plays the lead character of Sarah. As always she delivers a sterling performance, and comes across as very lovable and believable. This movie isn't a spectacular performance by her, but it's not deeply flawed either - it's just like all her other characters. Almost too much like them. The character isn't very different in look or feel to Rachel in Friends. Mark Ruffalo plays Sarah's fiancé Jeff. ... ...character does come off as quite a jerk at times so you'll end up hating him for a large portion of the movie anyway! He seems a strange choice of partner to Sarah, who is quite ditzy, while Jeff is a down-to-earth lawyer. Kevin Costner portrays Beau Burroughs superbly, and even though the storyline itself is slightly twisted, you can see why Sarah falls for it. Mena Suvari is cast as Sarah's sister, and is just plain annoying - but I think that's ...
liz1102 24.11.2006
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Rumour Has It (DVD)
With the romantic comedy RUMOUR HAS IT, director Rob Reiner (WHEN HARRY MET SALLY) attempts the tricky task of creating a film based on an already celebrated classic, 1967's THE GRADUATE. Starring Dustin Hoffman and based on a novel by Charlie Webb, the original film revolved around the love triangle between a recent college-graduate, his girlfriend, and her famously seductive mother. Here, Reiner casts a chain-smoking Shirley MacLaine as the supposed real-life inspiration for Mrs. Robinson, and Jennifer Aniston as her granddaughter. Set for the most part within the gossipy community of Pasadena, California, the film follows Sarah Huttinger (Aniston) and her fiance (Mark Ruffalo) as they travel home for her perky sister's (Mena Suvari) wedding. Having nothing in common with her family, Sarah is intrigued upon learning that she may actually be the secret love child of her deceased mother and Beau Borroughs (Kevin Costner), the man whose affairs with both Sarah's mother and grandmother supposedly inspired Charlie Webb, a classmate and friend of Beau, to write THE GRADUATE. From here, Sarah seeks out Beau, interested in him as a father-like figure and possibly more. Aniston brings a Rachel-like (FRIENDS) comic vibe to her character, frequently expressing her neuroses by talking to herself out loud in a sitcom-ish style. Costner is plenty capable in his role. Reiner's script veers away from the classic romantic comedy formula by keeping Ruffalo's character at the sidelines. Rather, RUMOUR HAS IT focuses on one woman's journey towards adulthood, self-realisation, and acceptance of her origins via a path that while strange seems to be family tradition.
Compare Rumour Has It (DVD) to other similar Comedy »
