How Do You Know (Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd, Jack Nicholson) – It is official now: Reese Witherspoon is my favorite chick flick actress. She officially replaces Meg Ryan, who aged out a decade ago. I never really thought of Julia Roberts as a candidate even though she made a couple of wonderful RomComs. Since then, I have been sampling all of the contenders: Kate Hudson, Anne Hathaway, Katherine Heigl, Amy Adams, etc. Reese has done her share of other roles, including her Oscar-winning performance in Walk The Line. But she is just so darned cute and seems perfectly placed in films like Four Christmases, the Legally Blond movies, and even Sweet Home Alabama.
How Do You Know is a poorly titled movie and, I believe, will suffer at the box office as a result. Titles matters. Think Gigli. But when you have to boldface the word KNOW so people understand how to read the title, you should have just changed it. A lot of people will miss a cute little movie by a great writer/director, James L. Brooks, and a wonderful, versatile actress because of that title.
How Do You Know is the story of Lisa, a world-class softball player (Witherspoon) who gets cut from the Olympic team and finds herself without a direction and purpose. It’s an interesting twist on the aging male ballplayer story, like Kevin Costner’s character in For Love of the Game. Lisa is levelheaded and, while devastated, surprisingly accepting of her fate. She is dating a relief pitcher for the Washington Nationals (Owen Wilson) but isn’t sure if he’s the real deal or a typical shallow athlete with a gal in every town. Wilson is perfect for this role because, well, he always plays this role. He is typecast but I doubt he has any more range than we see.
On the other hand, the versatile Paul Rudd plays George, a really nice guy who works for his dad (Jack Nicholson in a perfectly crusty role) and finds himself the subject of a federal investigation. (Note: This is a stretch and an unnecessary plot device but there has to be a way to insert the “other guy” into a romantic comedy and create a sub-plot). He gets set up on a blind date with Lisa, which leads to friendship for her and an infatuation for him.
That is the set up. The rest of the movie is typical chick-flick stuff with one exception, the Nicholson character. Brooks and Nicholson collaborated on As Good As It Gets, Broadcast News, and Terms of Endearment and keep this formula piece from falling apart. It is also good to see Rudd playing a mainstream RomCom instead of those reefer comedies. His performance here is closer to Clueless and I Love You, Man than Knocked Up, Dinner for Schmucks, and Year One.
As it is, How Do You Know is just an entertaining two hours without taxing your brain. While it has more romance than comedy, it is always fun to watch Reese and Jack. Especially Reese.