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RUMOR HAS IT... Scripter T.M. Griffin comes up with a clever premise: Sarah Huttinger (Jennifer Aniston) learns through a series of events that Charles Webb's best-selling novel The Graduate was based on the experiences of her own family -- specifically, the mother (now deceased) and grandmother (Shirley MacLaine), who more than 30 years earlier had slept with the same man (Kevin Costner). 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 Costner's character, 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 turning these initially promising characters into gibbering idiots. Rating: **
OPENS FRIDAY, JANUARY 20:
MATCH POINT: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Scarlett Johansson.
THE NEW WORLD: Colin Farrell, Christopher Plummer.
UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION: Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman.
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