ARCHIVE REVIEW; "How Do You Know"

On Homevideo and VOD:  Still Not Worth Seeing.




James L Brooks is legendarily responsible for some of the great comedies and comedy-dramas of his generation, with a record that stretches from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" to "The Simpsons" on TV, and Terms of Endearment to Broadcast News in film. Recently, though, he's stumbled as a movie writer-director, and last year he followed the problematic Spanglish with the woeful HOW DO YOU KNOW. Brooks just never seemed to get his bearings on a story that was more of a conventional romantic comedy than his usual work. Reese Witherspoon's professional softball player starts as a reasonably strong character, but as she dithers between Paul Rudd (a mousy executive in danger of going to jail for a scandal he didn't cause) and Owen Wilson (a big-league ballplayer who's a Casanova), one loses interest in all of them. Even Jack Nicholson as Rudd's father, usually a good-luck charm for Brooks, seems to be doing a nightclub impressionist's version of "Jack Nicholson." The film cost $100M to make because of the huge star salaries (and Brooks' typically extended production schedule)--and that's without marketing costs--and made only $48M worldwide, causing a fountain of red ink. Just sad for all concerned, not least the fans.