After
a year of movie going, though there have been some good, and a few
excellent, performances I will have a hard time coming up with the '10
best' list and "How Do You Know" won't be on that list!

For
a film written and directed by James L. Brooks this is a very sluggish
movie and some of the subplots are too long and lose their
effectiveness.

There is a lot of
chemistry between Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd but there is too much
time spent with Reese and Owen Wilson where there isn't enough
chemistry. It is almost as if Brooks was testing his character for a
movie of his own.

It is also the first
time that I was disappointed in a performance by Jack Nicholson who
acts, and looks, very sloppy in  his role as Paul Rudd's father who has
set his son up to take a 'fall' for him.

Witherspoon
is fetching in her various brief outfits and long blond hair but it is
Rudd who fills and steals the movie. In the triangle between
Witherspoon, Rudd and Wilson there is no doubt from the very beginning
who will end with whom. Though Wilson really doesn't add to the movie as
part of the triangle he does give the audience a chance to see how a
$14 million ballplayer lives, lusts and loves.

The
editing by Brooks, along with the directing, has no rhythm and throws
the film off. This romantic comedy goes into too many directions to be
romantic or funny though now and then there is a 'bit' that will make
you smile.