RUMOR HAS IT

Who wants to see a movie about a girl who tries to find herself (and get closer to her dead mother) by sleeping with someone who could have been her father?

Oh, how I wanted to love Rumor Has It. It didn't look especially good, but lately there has been such a shortage of decent romantic comedies that I'm always hoping for the best. Sadly, Rumor Has It is just another milquetoast movie showcasing the milquetoast skills of Jennifer Aniston. The more I think about it, the less I like it.

Sarah Huttinger (Jennifer Aniston) has always been different from her family. Her dad drives like an old lady, and Sarah drives like a crazy person. Her sister Annie (Mena Suvari) loves tennis, and Sarah couldn't care less. She doesn't even share the same political beliefs as the others! How can she be related to people so unlike herself?

When Sarah and her fiance, Jeff (Mark Ruffalo), fly to Pasadena for Annie's wedding, she realizes that her family might have been the basis for The Graduate. Her grandmother (Shirley MacLaine) and her late mother both had a relationship with a certain Beau Burroughs. Oh my gosh, could he be the real life Benjamin Braddock? And holy crap, could he be her father? This would explain so much!

Sarah then ditches Jeff, and sets out to meet Beau Burroughs (Kevin Costner). It turns out he's not her dad after all (he's sterile due to blunt testicular trauma), but why let the encounter end there? Why not get drunk and sleep with him? And, um....now what?

At this point, the plot is pretty much dead in the water, so we drift into the Who Am I And What Do I Want? territory that stinks up so many girl movies. Does Sarah really want to marry Jeff, or is she just settling? Why hasn't she made more of her career? She really has no idea, as she explains again and again and again. Well Sarah, have you considered the possibility that you're just a really boring, aimless person with no passion at all? If you haven't sorted yourself out by your thirties, clueless might be your M.O.

I often imagine that I like Jennifer Aniston, but I don't think it's true. She's palatable and inoffensive, but compared with the brief but scene-stealing performances of Kathy Bates and Shirley MacLaine, she's just so blah and passive. Somehow Jennifer always manages to be so vulnerable, so uncertain, that she doesn't seem like the hero of her own life-story. Even Mark Ruffalo (who gives a quiet, understated performance) and Kevin Costner (who's so laid back he threatens to fall over) are clearly comfortable in their own skin. Will the real Jennifer Aniston please step forward?

Rumor Has It isn't exactly painful to watch, but it's certainly painful to think about once it's over. Who wants to see a movie about a girl who tries to find herself (and get closer to her dead mother) by sleeping with someone who could have been her father? Where's her self-respect? Where's her brain? If you're looking for a good movie rental, save your own self-respect and revisit The Graduate instead.