Director: Rob Reiner, US, 12A, 96min
Stars: Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner, Shirley MacLaine, Mark Ruffalo On general release
The rumour in this implausible comedy-drama is that the film The Graduate was based on a true story, and that the family in question is Sarah’s. Sarah (Aniston) does the sums and works out that the man who wooed both her grandmother, the real Mrs Robinson (played with unrelenting glee by MacLaine), and her now dead mother, may be her father.
This bombshell is dropped during preparations for Sarah’s sister’s wedding, which Sarah is attending with her boring would-be fiancé Jeff (Ruffalo). But no sooner has the groom kissed the bride than Sarah abandons Jeff and jumps on a plane to find the graduate in question. Enter Beau (Costner), the Lothario who has gone on to emulate Bill Gates, and the is-he-isn’t-he debate begins as he falls for her and she falls from Jeff’s grace.
Advertisement
Oscar material this isn’t, but even though Aniston spends the whole film perfecting her famous quizzical expression, the script is funny enough to keep friends of Friends happy.
ANITA JAMES