Review: How Do You Know

Grade: C

Lisa has played softball her whole life, so much so that softball is her life, so when she gets cut from the USA softball team she finds herself lost and trying to figure out what to do with her life. She decides to start dating in order to take her mind off things. In comes Matty, a professional baseball player, who seems very nice and charming but is a bit f a player. She also meets George, who is going through some hard times himself. He is currently being investigated by the government for fraud at his father’s company. Lisa finds herself in the middle of this love triangle and is trying to decide which guy is better for her and will make her happy.

How Do You Know had an interesting concept; what happens when two people meet on the worst day of their lives. Unfortunately, the follow through was pretty weak. For being billed as a romantic comedy, there aren’t many laughs. There are some amusing points in the movie but sadly the jokes fall way short. The story is still kind of interesting and fun to watch at times but it almost lost me a couple times. James L. Brooks is usually a pretty funny writer but he definitely missed the mark on this one.

Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line, Sweet Home Alabama) plays the lead role of Lisa. She was definitely enjoyable in this role and really handled it well. I really like Reese Witherspoon and liked her in this movie, but there wasn’t much she could do with some of the uninteresting dialogue and writing. Paul Rudd (Dinner for Schmucks, Role Models) plays the role of George. Rudd was definitely the best part of this movie. He was very funny and extremely enjoyable in this movie, you really root for his character the whole movie. Owen Wilson (Wedding Crashers, The Big Bounce) plays the role of Matty. He was ok in the movie, but his character is never really likeable, which makes the ending pretty predictable. The movie also features Jack Nicholson and Kathryn Hahn.

How Do You Know is an ok movie but it isn’t much of a comedy. The writing is kind of weak and Jack Nicholson is really only in the movie to try to draw a crowd. If you really want to watch this one, wait for DVD.

Great quote: "Never drink to feel better, only drink to feel even better."