A dropout amongst "Graduate" films

Rumor Has It... (2005)
Warner Bros. presents a Rob Reiner film, starring Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Costner. Written by Ted Griffin. 96m. PG-13 for mature thematic material, sexual content, crude humor and a drug reference.

2 stars

Benjamin Braddock and Elaine Robinson may have one-upped their brutish parents in “The Graduate,” but it is a singular shot that upends the film’s final scene. We watch as the smiles slip from their faces, as they solemnly contemplate: What next?

We may have guessed that Benjamin would capitalize on Mr. McGuire’s inside dope and built his own synthetic empire. But we would have never guessed he’d grow up to be Kevin Costner.

Ah, that’s a bit unfair. But what “Rumor Has It…” supposes is: What if Charles Webb, writer of the original novel, were talking about a real Pasadena love triangle between mother, daughter, and boy next door?

Enter Sarah Huttinger (Jennifer Aniston), a floundering New York Times obit writer who is entering her mid-life crisis a good two decades early. Weddings have a tendency to do this to people. In this case, the wife-to-be is not Sarah – currently in a self-imposed limbo with milquetoast, but dependable, Jeff (Mark Ruffalo) – but her bubbly sister, Annie (Mena Suvari).

It’s an otherwise innocent reception conversation between Sarah and her grandmother Katharine (Shirley MacLaine) that awakens the journalist’s lingering doubts about her place in the Huttinger family. In a dialogue loosened by an unimpeded serving of olive-adorned martinis, Katharine mentions that Sarah’s mother (now conveniently deceased) may have had a brief fling with another man before opting to return home and marry Earl Huttinger (Richard Jenkins).

And since her date of birth (unsurprisingly) aligns with this alleged dalliance, Sarah seeks out the book’s source of inspiration - a dot.com tycoon named Beau Burroughs (Kevin Costner) - and asks: Are you my dad?

Costner is a solid cast; his persona lends credence to the idea that he could be both the seducer and the seduced. When Sarah sleeps with Beau after finding out he’s not her father, we’re supposed to consider it part of her loss of life equilibrium.

But compared to Benjamin, Sarah is no one to be pitied. It’s the film’s major miscalculation: that all our goodwill about “The Graduate” would translate seamlessly here.

Benjamin was a recent college graduate, paralyzed by the decision of what to do with his life. He’s sucked in by a materialist society which admires his supposed intellectualism, but offers only perilous dalliances in return. He’s lured into Mrs. Robinson’s world by her sexuality and her flattery.

We can’t say the same for Sarah, who is aggressive in her courtship of Beau. Rudderless, Sarah doesn’t do anything to right her own sinking ship. She seeks out situations that unduly complicate her life, instead of reinvesting in the things that gave her balance.

The real loser here is, of course, Jeff, who is bound by the constrictions of a romantic comedy to accept being cuckolded before taking back his seriously deranged fiancée. But “Rumor Has It…” deals in few unpleasantries, especially angles that don’t service the idea that Sarah is somehow redeemable after all this nonsense.

Perhaps most disappointing, however, is that “Rumor Has It…” is another lackluster entry in Rob Reiner’s most recent oeuvre. The Bronx native directed three of the most smartly-written comedies in the last 20 years: “When Harry Met Sally…” “The American President” and “The Princess Bride.”

But lately, all we’ve received from Meathead is uninspired efforts like “Alex & Emma” and “The Story of Us.” His films have lost their spirit, and are usually treading water by their first hour. It’s a sad current chapter for a once inspired voice.