Critics score:
20 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Incest is not the sturdiest foundation on which to build a romantic comedy. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: A funny idea, alas, doesn't necessarily make for a funny movie. Read more

Allison Benedikt, Chicago Tribune: [An] easygoing but surprisingly likable comedy. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Nothing is remotely believable here. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: It fails artistically but also philosophically, in that it rebuts the spirit of the earlier film, while offering nothing attractive in its place. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: It's really funny, true stuff. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Aniston hasn't had a great 2005. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: For awhile, the movie gives off an unsettling vibe, as Sarah sort of flirts with a guy who may be her dad. This is eventually explained, but the film takes one more trip to Ickville before it ends. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: An embarrassing romantic comedy. Read more

Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times: [The film is] rendered in a witless, banal environment that makes the whole thing pointless as it creeps to its oddly conformist conclusions. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: I suppose it sounded like a good idea at the time. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Nichols' satirically pungent ambitions are reduced to an epiphany about love and marriage -- and an unconvincing one at that. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: A mess -- all high concept, stranded performances, and no laughs. Read more

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: Hand much of the credit to director Rob Reiner, who consistently hits the right comic notes. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: Jen, poor Jen! Her unfriendly role requires her to act irritable and irritating for most of the footage. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: [The film] entails a less-than-shattering insight about love and marriage, of interest only in that it inadvertently reveals just how fearful and reactionary we've grown about both since Benjamin and Elaine first got on that bus. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Who comes up with this stuff? Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: Without a plausible story, Rumor Has It has only its performances to get it by, and a very familiar performance -- from Shirley MacLaine, as Beau's still bawdy, one-time seductress -- is the best we get. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Buried deep inside this misbegotten comedy is the glimmer of an idea. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The film's few high points are outweighed and outnumbered by sequences that don't work and cast choices that should have been re-thought. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: This is not a great movie, but it's very watchable and has some good laughs. Read more

Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The comedy Rumor Has It whispers at being something more than just a diversion, but it never delivers on that potential. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: The real weak point is Reiner's listless direction, with too few scenes that almost gel and too many that fall flat. Read more

Susan Walker, Toronto Star: A scantily clad premise that would at best have been a light-hearted farce goes in search of a heart-tugging denouement and doesn't find it. Read more

Time Out: Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Jesus may love Mrs. Robinson more than she will know, but some filmmakers don't seem to, based on their insistence on reviving her for the pallid and plodding Rumor Has It. Read more

Brian Lowry, Variety: It devolves into a bland romance spiced with too little comedy. Read more

Laura Sinagra, Village Voice: Rumor had it this was gonna be a stinker, and it is. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: A jarring amalgam of sitcom goofiness and uncomfortable ooginess. Read more