Movie Review: How Do You Know (2010)
A sitcom posing as a feature film
Photo: Columbia Pictures
James L. Brooks hasn't exactly bombarded the cineplex with features as a director — or as a writer or producer for that matter. As an executive producer on "The Simpsons" I guess he can afford that luxury, not to mention the early directorial successes of Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News and As Good as It Gets. Those three films garnered 25 Oscar nominations and seven wins. Brooks won for Best Director and Screenplay for Terms of Endearment, which also took home Best Picture. However, since 1997 we've only seen one film, Spanglish, and that's all it has taken for the film community to begin to sour.
The cast includes Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson and Jack Nicholson. For more information on this film including pictures, trailers and a detailed synopsis choose from the following menu.
Review
"How Do You Know" is a Columbia Pictures release, directed by James L. Brooks and is rated PG-13 for sexual content and some strong language. The running time is 1 hour 53 minutes.
Depending on your viewpoint, the characters in How Do You Know will either work or they won't, there's little room for in-between seeing how these aren't necessarily "real" people in the sense they don't behave as people you come across on a daily basis. Especially considering their circumstances.
George (Paul Rudd) works for his father (Jack Nicholson) and he's currently under indictment. He and his father's relationship is tense to say the least. Lisa (Reese Witherspoon) is a recently dismissed member of the Team USA softball team and she's dating Matty (Owen Wilson), a self-centered major league baseball player with a sexual drive as powerful as his ignorance. This quartet makes up a nearly two-hour hodgepodge of a feature that has its major ups and downs and while the comedy is limited I never reached a point where I hated what I was watching.
Rudd's performance is of two modes, off and on. He's either doing what he's shown he can do in such films as I Love You, Man and Role Models, or he just appears to be reading lines. His performance opposite Jack Nicholson is incredibly weak, but then again so is Jack's. Jack is playing Jack and he was obviously cast for that very reason. His first and last scenes in the film use the fact it's Jack to sell the joke and it almost works.
Wilson's character is an overactive libido with a mouth and he gets most of the film's laughs as his character stays true throughout. In his script Brooks takes most of the known issues that cause couples to break up and uses Matty as a test subject. In doing so the film's narrative is given a voice and Matty is given a chance. He's dumb enough to the point he doesn't realize he's being insensitive.
Witherspoon fits comfortably into the middle of all of this. She's Rachel to Rudd and Wilson's Ross and Joey. She gets to act drunk, sad, mad and cute and she pulls it off easily. This isn't the most trying of roles, however, but she certainly doesn't drag the film down.
The two best performances of the flick come from Kathryn Hahn and Lenny Venito. Hahn plays Rudd's pregnant assistant who's legally not allowed to discuss the ongoing investigation and Lenny plays Al, the father of Hahn's child. For the most part Hahn plays the goofy and caring supporting role (one you'd often see filled by Judy Greer), but near the end of the film (and when it probably should have ended) Hahn and Venito put together the film's best scene… That is until Brooks ruins it in a way I won't ruin for you here.
How Do You Know is by no means the film you'd expect from an Oscar-wining screenwriter and director, but it is the film you'd expect from a writer of "The Simpsons". These aren't insults, it's a matter of mindset. It's hard to hate this film because its intentions are good, even if they are pulled off with the dexterity of an amateur. It certainly doesn't stand out from the pack, but it is a serviceable rom-com, albeit one on the middle-to-lower rung.
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May I have my $12.50 back!
I'll rent it because I like Rudd and Wilson, but definitely won't check it out in theaters
I will see this because Jack Nicholson is in it… Thats really all I need to know… Whether he's playing "Jack", as people like to say he does at this point in his career (which is fine with me, does he really need to prove anything to anyone any more?), or really getting into character (As Good As It Gets, About Schmidt, The Departed), he's always fun to watch…
And also because of Paul Rudd (very much a bonus)… I always seem to identify with his lead character characters lately…
We saw this last night, by far one of the worst movies of 2010. We love Jack, Resse, Owen and Paul, but.. the story never solidified, the characters were unbelievable, it never clicked. We had high hopes, but we left the theater asking, "What was that all about?" This movie with be out on DVD in 60 days or less and on cable by summer. Save your money… On a positive note, the popcorn was fresh and the soda was cold…
John (Matthew) Shanks co-produces and co-writes some songs for Miley Cyrus, Bon Jovi, Michelle Branch, Melissa Etheridge, and many others. You rock dude!
Just kidding, but I had to do a double-take when I saw that name :)
The movie was nothing like I expected. I thought it would be funny comedy through out the movie, and it was for the most part. I agree with the author about to each to his own, when it comes to whether liking the movie. I had mixed feelings as I was watching the movie, but when I left the theater I realized it was the kind of movie you watch to lift your spirits when you have a bad day. Witherspoon and Rudd weren't sensational compared to Wilson and Jack.