Rumour Has It

(Herald rating: * *)

Rob Reiner is responsible for directing some gems over the years - When Harry Met Sally, The Princess Bride, Stand By Me. This is his latest effort, and you have to wonder where the magic, and the comedy, have gone?

Jennifer Aniston stars and does what she has managed to avoid so well in her film career until now, playing her Friends character Rachel. As the eldest daughter of a middle-class family who love to play tennis, Sarah Huttinger always felt that she doesn't fit in with her family, mostly it seems because she doesn't drive like her Dad, and doesn't like tennis.

Sarah is irritating, flighty and indecisive - Aniston seems to have homed in on all of Rachel's annoying characteristics. It's hard to see why her fiance (Ruffalo) wants to marry her.

New York-based Sarah arrives home for her sister's wedding and has a badly timed meltdown when she discovers the novel and 1967 film The Graduate is based on her mother and grandmother, who years ago both had a fling with a guy called Beau Borroughs (Costner).

Determine to find out the truth about her dead mother's affair with this man, she selfishly takes off to San Francisco in search of him.

Nothing much else happens. Needless to say, Rachel - sorry, Sarah - finds herself and comes to the conclusion most people have worked out by 30, that you love your family regardless of how they drive, or whether they like tennis.

You might imagine Rumour Has It is a romantic comedy. It is about relationships and there is a little romance, but it's dreadfully short on comedy. Thank goodness for Shirley MacLaine as the feisty, proud grandmother (aka Mrs Robinson snr) who packs some punch in a dull mix with her harsh one-liners.

Too shallow to be a drama, and too dull to be a good comedy, Rumour Has It is a disappointment.

CAST: Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner, Shirley MacLaine, Mark Ruffalo
DIRECTOR: Rob Reiner
RUNNING TIME: 96 minutes
RATING: M (sexual references)
SCREENING: Village Hoyts, Village and Berkeley cinemas