Since starting at Variety on September 25, I have seen 26 movies (giving me 30 for the year - hoping to publish my overall review soon). Remarkably, though some have been more than problematic, not one has been awful - and it had gotten to the point where I began to wonder if I was becoming too soft.

Then I happened to catch Rumor Has It on cable tonight, and man, was I reminded of how bad a movie can be.

I could have understood a sequel to The Graduate being crazy bad - too eccentric for its own good in trying to follow up a classic. But the most errant bullet in this misfire is the utter blandness of it - it is a movie truly without any soul. It's cardboard.

Man, if you're going to do a movie, why not create a character? You know, just to pass the time?