Management

Sometimes a movie has one scene that is totally worth seeing, even if the rest of the movie sucks. Management is one of those movies. In fact, I would not blink an eye if the director told me that the movie was originally written around that one single scene. Imagine, write a storyline for a single funny scene, then build a movie around it. It has to happen, right?

Management stars Jennifer Aniston and Steven Zahn, 2 actors that can be hit or miss. You may know Steven Zahn from such monster box office hits as Sunshine Cleaning (which actually wasn't that bad), Strange Wilderness (which was dreadfully horrible), Rescue Dawn, and Daddy Daycare. And everyone knows who Jennifer is.

The premise of the movie is that Aniston is a traveling saleswoman who sells corporate art. Zahn is the night manager for his parents' motel. The owner is Fred Ward. Anyway, Zahn immediately falls in love with Aniston and on his shift struggles to think of a reason to visit her room. He then finds a way. With some persistence, he eventually scores, but Aniston then finds out that he won't leave her alone, and follows her across the country (interestingly all the way to Baltimore and Columbia, Maryland).

After that previously mentioned scene, the movie is unbelievably predictable and uneventful. Think of it - what other movie has the underdog dude go after the attractive sophisticated woman and not get her? It's the fibre of a successful romantic comedy. Without it, it's not funny....or romantic.

Management was directed by Stephen Belber, basically an unknown. The movie is an hour an a half long and is rated R for language and sexual situations. The movie also stars Woody Harrelson as Anistons on-again off-again mentally deranged boyfriend, a role that he has perfected. Harrelson has been a busy woody, staring in nearly a dozen movies in the past 2 years.

If it weren't for that one scene, this movie would have been a dud. However, because that scene made me laugh so hard, it deserves the big 3 stars.

Rumor Has It

This is one of those movies that ties its story-line to another movie, sort of like how Sleepless In Seattle followed the 1957 hit An Affair To Remember staring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. In Rumor Has It, Jennifer Aniston's character Sarah Huttinger suspects that the her family is the subject of the 1967 movie The Graduate, which starred a young Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft.

Throughout her life, Sarah suspects that something's just not right. She looks like no one in her family and she acts nothing like them. Then at her sister's wedding she starts to hear rumors. She then decides to investigate those rumors and learns more than she really wanted to know, especially about her mom. And, of course, she needs to find out everything before her own wedding to Mark Ruffalo, who rolls with Buffalo.

In the process, she meets the man that her mother met before her mother got married. This seedy old guy, played by Kevin Costner, has his own secrets and is interested in making some more secrets.

The movie is a clever play on The Graduate. Having seen The Graduate makes Rumor Has It a lot more understandable, so if you plan on seeing Rumor Has It, watch The Graduate first. The acting is as you would expect from your typical romantic comedy. And, being labeled a romantic comedy, it has to turn out as expected, right?

The movie is directed by Rob Reiner and you'll be happy to know that there are no left-wing punches at the right in the movie. The movie also stars Shirley MacClaine, whose brother is so vain, as Sarah's grandmother and Kathy Bates as one of Sarah's mother's friends.

As far as romantic comedies go, this one is okay. There is some nonconformist sexual situations and a drug use giving the movie a PG-13 rating, the standard for romantic comedies.

You won't lose much by missing this movie, but if you have some time to burn, this one's not too bad. I give this movie 3 stars.