How Do You Know

James L. Brooks is a great filmmaker. I mean, the guy has Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News, and As Good as It Gets to his credit. Heck, he even helped develop the seemingly eternal TV animated sitcom, The Simpsons. It's hard to top yourself with credits like that. So, maybe people had a lot of inflated expectations for his latest film, How Do You Know. I mean, just go on over to Rotten Tomatoes, and look at some of the reviews it's getting. Well, I'm going to have to go against my fellow critics, because while it definitely has its problems, I kind of liked it.

Given the reviews and word of mouth, I was not exactly looking forward to this movie. But, it surprised me. Is it a great movie? Far from it. There are moments when the film lacks focus, and some characters aren't developed as well as they could or should be. But what does work worked very well for me, and what worked was the simple (very simple) adult romance about three characters who are not only trying to find love, but two of them are at crossroads in their careers that could go either way. The key word here is "adult romance". The screenplay by Brooks at least allows the characters to act like intelligent individuals most of the time, except for some rare unwanted turns into slapstick territory.

The characters at the center of this romance are Lisa (Reese Witherspoon), a champion softball player who just got cut from her team, and fears her career is over as she enters her 30s, Matty (Owen Wilson), a carefree and laid back professional baseball player who is famous for his womanizing, and George (Paul Rudd, more charismatic here than he's ever been), who has not only found himself unemployed from the company run by his father (Jack Nicholson), but has also become the target of a federal investigation about said company. The film follows the triangle that forms between the three main characters. Lisa initially hooks up with Matty, but also develops a friendship with George, after a mutual friend hooks them up on a dinner date. But George is interested in more than a friendship, and sees Lisa as the only good thing in his life at the moment. At the same time, Lisa finds herself worried about her committed relationship to Matty, who doesn't seem to be on the same length as her about where they're going in life, and can never seem to find the right thing to say.

The performances at the center of How Do You Know help sell the thin material, save surprisingly for Jack Nicholson, who seems to be phoning it in a little here. This is not a case of the director not knowing how to work with the actor, as Nicholson has appeared in three of Brooks' past films, so I don't know what happened here. At least he gets to leave the film with some big laughs (one in a hospital scene late in the film, and the other the final reaction shot he gets). Up until then, however, he's upstaged by Witherspoon, Wilson, and especially Rudd, who use their charm and natural screen presence to make the characters seem more interesting than they probably were on the written page. The three leads work well together and individually, and the movie does manage to give them some funny moments, such as when Lisa finds out just how prepared Matty is for a one night stand.

Where the movie suffers just a little is in the stuff that does not revolve around the three main characters, and their relationship. James L. Brooks is famous for putting a lot of subplots and secondary characters in his movies, but here, he seems to flounder a little when he's not focused on his central angle. The material concerning Rudd's character, his father, and the federal investigation is never built as much as it should be, nor does it capture the emotion it needs to. Likewise, a subplot concerning Rudd bonding with a pregnant assistant from his old job (Kathryn Hahn) seems kind of pointless, although it does at least climax with some big laughs. If the movie was sharper and more focused, I think it could have been great. There's still some good material when the movie is not centered on the central romantic triangle, it's just never given enough attention.

And yet, I'm still recommending it. As I said before, the stuff that does work worked very well for me, and I liked all three of the leads. The movie's a warm, fuzzy little film that's likable enough to win me over, despite it's obvious faults. I'm still waiting for Brooks' next great film, as are a lot of people, obviously. But How Do You Know is certainly not bad at all, and awfully charming when it wants to be.

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