Talking Pictures

Rich Bonaduce reviews “How Do You Know”

Rich’s Quickie: I STILL don’t know…

How: How – and when – “How Do You Know” works is when Owen Wilson’s gee-whiz bewilderment and Paul Rudd’s …well, anything take center stage. Paul Rudd is fast becoming the best part of almost any movie he’s in, although Jack Nicholson and Reese Witherspoon (and even some lesser-known supporting characters) obviously help.

Why: But with James L. Brooks being the writer and director, maybe there was no one there to consult; no one there to say, “Hey is this a drama? Or a comedy? Or is it a romance?” Because while it seems to be a little bit of ALL of them, there also doesn’t seem to be enough of any ONE of them in a somewhat overlong movie.
Additionally, even though both of our leading men seem infatuated with Witherspoon’s “Lisa”, I’m not sure why. Sure she’s pretty, but not overly so. She’s successful and fit; but she’s also just old enough and past her prime that she gets cut from her professional softball team. She also seems pretty self-occupied, and doesn’t know what she wants out of life. So where’s the big draw? Further, she seems to allow Wilson’s oblivious professional baseball playa “Matty” to largely walk all over her (I guess because he has money, and she also needs a place to live), while treating with mere civility Rudd’s puppy dog “George” (possibly because he has less money, has just lost his job and is maybe heading to jail for fraud)? Again, what’s the draw to this Lisa person? She seems a bit shallow, as do all of our lead characters. Matty has a Peter Pan complex and has no concept of commitment, and even always likable Rudd’s George falls for Lisa without barely knowing her, even telling her at the end of the movie that he loves her (to which she doesn’t respond in kind).
In fact, some of the supporting characters have more depth to them then our main characters and in the end, I still didn’t know the answer to the title question.

Movie Grade: C-

Director: James L. Brooks
Writers: James L. Brooks

Rated PG-13 for sexual content and some strong language (on appeal/re-edit); Originally rated R for some language.

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