Movie Review: HOW DO YOU KNOW?

photo © 2010 Joe | more info (via: Wylio)Reese Witherspoon, Jack Nicholson, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson, and director James L. Brooks (As Good As It Gets, The Mary Tyler Moore Show) team up for the the romantic comedy (?) How Do You Know?. I have tried to write this review a few times but have just stopped as it's kind of hard to assess. Since I do this blog for fun, and am fighting no deadlines, I just decided to think it over a while longer. One moment I hate the pretentiously named, annoyingly directed, and overlong film. Then another moment comes where, while I still don't love it, I think back fondly on a few of the scenes and a few of the characters. Brooks has always known how to develop characters, but here he seemed to completely forget to structure a worthy story around them. Some of the dialog in this movie is so boring you could save yourself the money and just observe a conversation in the lobby of the theater. I struggled to stay awake.

Witherspoon plays a softball player who is cut from her team as she is too old. She begins to engage, almost at the same time, in two less than perfect romantic relationships. One of these is with Rudd's character, a man being accused of financial crimes that he claims he didn't commit. The other, more odd and unbelievable, is with a baseball sensation played by Wilson. I didn't like this latter relationship at all - everything about it was forced. Witherspoon and Wilson have about as much chemistry as Witherspoon and a vacuum cleaner. Throw in a couple of run-on scenes with Nicholson, and that's really the movie in a nutshell.

As I mentioned, this movie is long. It feels longer. It drags and drags, but then occasionally has a really sweet moment. My favorite scene, the one that really saved it from the worst of the year list for me, was when Witherspoon's character unexpectedly calls Rudd's character to see if she can come over...from his doorstep. He sees her, but doesn't let her know he sees her, and it's a really nice scene and funny conversation. Is it worth seeing the movie for this scene? Absolutely not. So ultimately I would give this movie a 4 out of 10.

Family Take: I can safely say there is nothing here that kids would want to see this movie for - there are a lot of adult conversations - too many that go nowhere. You might try it as a punishment for them.

If You Like How Do You Know Try: As Good As It Gets - it's classic Brooks and so much better.