Rumor Has It… (HD-DVD/DVD Combo Format)

 

Picture: B/C+     Sound: B-/C+     Extras: D     Film: C

 

 

There is a scene in Robert Altman’s The Player (1992) where to show the desperation of the kind of soulless, idiotic executives with absolutely no business being in the film business and having no real love or interest in the subject, suggests a sequel to Mike Nichols’ The Graduate.  Those who have seen the film know it is one of THE films of its or any moment (1967) and the idea of a sequel at first seems silly, but we soon realize the person suggesting it is serious, as if it were bad TV.  Former TV actor-turned-film-director Rob Reiner has not done a sequel or remake of the classic, but Rumor Has It… (2005) treads close to the inane idea as a young lady (TV star Jennifer Aniston) starts to discover that the book of Nichols’ film might be based on members of her family and friends.

 

Right there, that a young lady played by a TV star could be connected to a classic in print or film, is already reductionism.  The film gets worse.  Her boyfriend (Mark Ruffalo) tries to console her and does not believe it himself.  We are supposed to believe it might have been Kevin Costner and Shirley MacLaine about a half-century ago.  That is not funny, believable, realistic or ever played with even the faintest attempt to convince us.  The film has a laugh here or there, but is too amused with itself to be a good film.  Christopher McDonald, Mena Suvari and yet another George Hamilton cameo as George Hamilton just proves the overall half-heartedness as Reiner continues his personal slump.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on the DVD side is oddly flat, with some image noise like we have never seen before within the picture that might simply come from the fact that it is the DVD side of an HD-DVD.  The 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image is a more noticeable improvement as a result, though this film is nothing special visually, cinematographer Peter Deming is and took this more commercial film for such reasons.  However, if you want to see what he is really capable of, see Evil Dead II, The Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, From Hell, The Jacket, I “Heart” Huckabees or even the first Austin Powers film to see what he is really capable of.  The only extra is a trailer on the DVD side, but that truly is enough said.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo