How Do You Know – Movie Review

How Do You Know you have a movie that is simply a dud? When haflway through, you’re wondering why in the name of God you were convinced of purchasing a ticket for it.

And then you remember, yeah, it has Reese Witherspoon and Jack Nicholson… should be enough to drive any movie right?

Well no. The actors are really good but they are given characters that are so tiresome and dull that they cannot even begin to try making them likeable enough for you to connect with them. Add to that the fact that this movie, a romantic comedy with a very predictable and cliche plot, is over two hours long and you’re in for one overly stretched ride.

Reese Witherspoon plays Lisa, a baseball athlete that is past her prime and suddenly finds herself in need to search for other pursuits in life. And naturally, what pursuit is the best one to be sought? Yes, you got it: love.

So she becomes torn between jobless romantic and prosecuted George (Paul Rudd) and millionaire athlete, who happens to be (as is the case with every single movie of the type) stupider than a doorknob (Owen Wilson).

Owen Wilson and Jack Nicholson (George’s dad) provide some much needed comic relief for a movie whose scenes are extended beyond the scope of them being tolerable anymore.

The only scene in the movie where I felt serious acting chops were demonstrated involved Lisa (Reese) discovering that her whole life needs to be changed. Her standing in front of the mirror, brushing her teeth, was probably the only time you could connect with a character in the movie.

So all in all, How Do You Know is a predictable story of love in our modern-day world, one that has been done over and over again in movies that were written in a much better way and executed in sharper manners. The story of these characters discovering how you know if you’re in love and whatnot is done so laboriously slow that at times, the movie gets you wondering why people bother with love in the first place.

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8 thoughts on “How Do You Know – Movie Review

  1. well, if you remember i tweeted to you how i memorized its trailer? the trailer actually says it all like your Review.
    I’m not a fan of Paul Rudd for a start,
    As for Reese, her dull appearance in “Four Christamses” made me think twice about her comedy skills, but owen wilson is as adorable as his accent..and no matter how charming the cast looks, i believe Jack Nicholson just doesn’t fit in… (although he’s one of my fav)
    Its defintely not a movie to watch in theaters, and after your review am even hesitating to have it on DVD as well!!
    Nicely harshly written 😉

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    • I thought by you memorizing the trailer, you wanted to watch the movie and you were excited about it :p
      I actually thought Four Christmas wasn’t that bad but yeah, after Legally Blonde, Reese Witherspoon has lost her “comedy-sparkle” if you want.
      I am indifferent about both Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson. I think Wilson has been doing a lot of similar roles lately.
      Jack Nicholson is great but, exactly, he is totally out of place here :p

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  2. Jack nIcholson is a legend. Director James L. Brooks is such a fine director aswell. He directed Nicholson in a lot of great movies (“As Good As it gets” comes to mind). Too bad he failed this time around.

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