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One of the countless comic highlights in Robert Altman's Hollywood expose The Player finds screenwriter Buck Henry pitching a sequel to The Graduate. Truth be told, I'd rather have seen his proposed film than Rumor Has It... (Rating: **), which uses the Charles Webb novel (and subsequent Mike Nichols adaptation) as a starting point for a sloppy comedy that ultimately goes nowhere.
That's a shame, because scripter T.M. Griffin actually comes up with a clever premise. Sarah Huttinger (Jennifer Aniston), a newspaper obituary writer who can't decide whether or not to marry her easy-going boyfriend (Mark Ruffalo), learns through a series of events that Webb's best-selling novel The Graduate was based on the experiences of her own family. Over 30 years ago, both her mother (now deceased) and grandmother (Shirley MacLaine) had slept with Beau Burroughs (Kevin Costner), who in more recent times has become a billionaire thanks to the booming Internet trade (the movie's set in 1997). Convinced that Beau can help her sort out her own ambivalent feelings regarding her family, she maneuvers to meet him in person, only to find that, like her mom and grandma before her, she can't resist his roguish charm.
The hook turns out to be the most entertaining aspect of the film, as Sarah strives to learn exactly how all the pieces of the Graduate puzzle fit together. But once she becomes romantically entangled with Beau, the picture grinds to a halt, losing its comic conceit and getting bogged down in the mundanity of its older man-younger woman relationship. Director Rob Reiner then proceeds to make matters worse, repeatedly mistaking frantic for funny and basically turning these initially promising characters into gibbering idiots (only Costner and Ruffalo manage to retain some measure of dignity).
Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson, now more than ever.
What could be more idiotic than releasing a foreign slasher flick in the high-profile summer movie season? How about releasing a foreign slasher flick on Christmas Day?
Just as France's High Tension bombed this past June, expect the Australian import Wolf Creek (Rating: *) to suffer a similar fate in the upcoming weeks. Maybe it's just me, but isn't there something distasteful about releasing a movie this sadistic and nihilistic on a day that's supposed to be all about spirituality and generosity? Not that Wolf Creek would look good any time of year: The early buzz that suggested this was another Texas Chainsaw Massacre must have been generated by studio flaks and Sundance Festival sycophants working in tandem, since Wolf Creek is a far cry from that 70s classic of "feel-bad" cinema.
Writer-director Greg McLean's film strands three college-age kids (Cassandra McGrath, Kestie Morassi and Nathan Phillips) in the Australian Outback, whereupon they meet a hulking roughneck (John Jarratt) who proceeds to slice and dice them as he sees fit. Wolf Creek bills itself as "Based On Real Events," a dubious claim since the film is rife with the sort of boneheaded plotting that can only be found in sub-par thrillers of this nature. Furthermore, since there were no witnesses to some of the grisly deaths on view, how can this be based on anything but McGrath's own misogynistic leanings?
As if releasing this on December 25 wasn't disturbing enough, there's also a scene in which one of the young protagonists finds himself attached to a wall crucifix-style, with his arms outstretched and nails hammered through the palms of his hands.
Father, forgive them, for they clearly know not what they do.
