大象传媒

Jennifer Aniston puzzles over love in Rumour Has It..., a sort of unofficial sequel to The Graduate (1967). But while Mike Nichols 60s classic championed self-expression, Rob Reiner's comedy is bogged down by one woman's self-obsession. Aniston is short-changed playing a commitmentphobe whose worst neuroses are confirmed when she discovers that her family inspired the book on which Nichols' film is based. Ultimately the story is just one (vaguely amusing) in-joke rolled wafer thin, which isn't much to talk about.

Shirley MacLaine rattles off the scathing one-liners as Sarah's grandmother (aka Mrs Robinson) who tries to talk her out of ditching fianc茅 Jeff (Mark Ruffalo). However, this easy cynicism may reflect her boredom with the script just as Kevin Costner's turn as the much-bedded Beau (aka a less dorky Benjamin Braddock) is marked by lethargy. In a farcical series of events - which get creepier with every twist - he seduces Sarah and even boasts of having slept with three generations of the same family!

"JOKES FEEL FORCED"

It's this yucky notion that undermines Beau when he claims to be in love with Sarah. Clearly they don't have a future and so there's no palpable sense of jeopardy regarding Sarah's impending marriage to Jeff. Also, it's just not very funny. Aniston possesses great comic instincts but her efforts are futile since Reiner directs the action like he's leading a funeral procession. Ultimately it's because the story is so implausible that the jokes feel forced and the insights few. It turns out there isn't a grain of truth in this Rumour.