How Do You Know (2010)
Average Rating: 4.9/10
Reviews Counted: 146
Fresh: 46 | Rotten: 100
How Do You Know boasts a quartet of likeable leads -- and they deserve better than this glib, overlong misfire from writer/director James L. Brooks.
Average Rating: 5.3/10
Critic Reviews: 41
Fresh: 16 | Rotten: 25
How Do You Know boasts a quartet of likeable leads -- and they deserve better than this glib, overlong misfire from writer/director James L. Brooks.
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Average Rating: 2.5/5
User Ratings: 40,562
Movie Info
Director James L. Brooks returns to the helm for this ensemble comedy starring Reese Witherspoon, Jack Nicholson, Paul Rudd, and Owen Wilson, which centers on the story of a passionate athlete who finds herself romantically torn between a narcissistic baseball star and a straight-laced businessman. As far back as Lisa (Witherspoon) can remember, her life has been defined by sports. Then, in the blink of an eye, she's cut from the team. With her identity in crisis as she attempts to regain her
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Cast
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Reese Witherspoon
Lisa -
Paul Rudd
George -
Owen Wilson
Matty -
Jack Nicholson
Charles -
Kathryn Hahn
Annie -
Mark Linn-Baker
Ron -
Lenny Venito
Al -
Molly Price
Coach Sally -
Ron McLarty
George's Lawyer -
Shelley Conn
Terry -
Domenick Lombardozzi
Bullpen Pitcher -
John Tormey
Doorman -
Teyonah Parris
Riva -
Tony Shalhoub
Psychiatrist -
Dean Norris
Softball Coach -
Donna Dundon
Annie's Mom -
Cyrus Newitt
Annie's Dad -
William Blagrove
Matty's Teammate -
Andrew Wilson
Matty's Teammate -
David Gregory
Matty's Teammate -
Yuki Matsuzaki
Tori -
Bill McKinley
Maitre d' -
Jim Bouton
Bullpen Coach -
Tara Subkoff
Subpoena Woman -
Mary Gallagher
Other Female Coach
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How Do You Know Trailer & Photos
All Critics (148) | Top Critics (43) | Fresh (46) | Rotten (100) | DVD (11)
Some of the bits are funny, every now and then they're sweet, the performances are OK and really, with this much talent involved, it's hard not to be disappointed in that.
Top CriticContrived, mawkish and mirthless, this feels like it was made by people who haven't had any meaningful human contact for years.
Everything looks primed for civilized amusement, but somewhere along the way the laughs dropped off, together with the question mark in the title.
Brooks has given us the rare contemporary rom-com that's by turns (if intermittently) thoughtful and funny, and that doesn't feel focus-grouped, cynical, misogynist, or mean. It seems ungenerous not to cut such a generous movie a break.
How do you know if a romantic comedy isn't working? Generally if it's neither especially romantic, nor particularly comic. And in this picture, no matter how many times he keeps coming up to bat, Brooks keeps striking out.
How Do You Know isn't Brooks' best. Witherspoon is too uneasy in her role. But thanks to Rudd, plus Kathryn Hahn as... George's loyal secretary and Nicholson as his father, it delivers a number of delights.
It's not enough to merely swoon over Witherspoon. The movie's entirely too long and leaden to get by on that alone.
"How Do You Know" is a complete misfire from famed writer/director James L. Brooks.
What happened to James L. Brooks?
It's all a bit of a slog and, in the end, you don't know much more than you did at the start.
What makes any of these kinds of movies run involves the appeal of the main actors, and all three, stalwart in their screen likabilities, smooth the proceedings.
Not enough films let their characters talk enough. Because if they did it would usually stop the idiotic plot in its tracks. Points for meandering down the road less traveled.
Good news: you've got great actors with wonderful chemistry and comic timing. Bad News: they're playing some of the most irritating, unlikable, infuriating characters ever committed to film
Even Nicholson's usually scene-stealing bluster can't get this disappointing addition to the Brooks filmography going.
Every scene is as achingly long and laboured as the film's instantly forgettable title.
More creative energy has gone into furnishing these characters' apartments than devising credible emotional situations to put them in; the result is wholly undemanding, and best saved for a long-haul flight.
James L. Brooks has clearly spent far too long in Los Angeles.
Though neither mindless nor insensitive, this interminable movie falls far short of Brooks's best work, which is to say Broadcast News and As Good As It Gets.
Seemingly well-intentioned and inoffensive - but there are so many other films that do this sort of thing faster, better and with more jokes, including a couple from writer-director James L Brook's own back catalogue.
Though the film was a box-office dud in the US, Brooks delivers an amusing and consistenly engaging relationship piece that is a cut above the standard romantic comedy.
Despite the best efforts of all involved, trying to prise laughs out of How Do You Know is like trying to make concrete float.
Instead of juicing it up with jokes, Brooks has inadvertently given us another story of the American condition, which is that of absolute and incorrigible self-centredness.
How Do You Know is a slight and predictable tale of modern day love, padded with subplots about father-son bonding and undeclared love.
For the most part, this story of trying to find out how you know you are in love is so slow and laborious you'll wish they'd just flip a coin and be done with it.
How do you know you've got a dud? When a cast this talented and determined can't lift a soporific screenplay to entertaining heights.
Audience Reviews for How Do You Know
Super Reviewer
Well, I've seen it now, and....the film is not terrible, just terribly mediocre. The main issues are that the script is just dull, the characters aren't really all that interesting, and everyone just looks bored and uninspired...especially Jack, who pretty much just phones it in and plays himself, but goes by the name of Charles. Also, this film, like many of Brooks's, goes on far too long, but here it's not worth it because the film isn't all that interesting.
It's not a complete loss though. Reese and Rudd are actually decent, and I kind of liked their characters, but I couldn't stand Wilson here. He's just too frustrating and a little of his character goes a long way. Plus, there are a few good scenes, but overall, this film just seems all over the place, messy, and in need of some revisions.
If you feel you need to see this, then see it, but catch it on tv or something. There are far worse films that are just as sweet and well-meaning, but this one was just really came off all the worse because there's some great people involved.
Super Reviewer
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- Psychiatrist: Figure out what you want and learn how to get it.
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- George: This stuff was invented by this man in Central Ohio as white goo ... used to remove soot off wall paper... when gas and electric heating came in there was no longer a need for the cleaning goo the guy was going under ... Joe McVicker, his sister in law was Kay Zufall. So Kay Zufall discovered that her kids liked squeezing the goo a lot more than hard modeling clay so she suggested to her brother in law Joe that they colour the stuff and call it play- doh ... So I have kept this for a long time as proof that we are all just one small adjustment away from making our lives work.
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- George: We are all just one small adjustment away from making our lives work.
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- Lisa: Never drink to feel better; drink to feel even better.
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- Matty: I went crazy when you left, I broke a lamp.
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Movie: ID: 771201460 Title: How Do You Know Release Date: 2010-12-17 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 3 Status: 1
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