Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
Don't you dare discount this latest work from writer-director James L. Brooks (BROADCAST NEWS, AS GOOD AS IT GETS, TERMS OF ENDEARMENT) simply because the trailer makes it look like a paint-by-number romantic comedy. Brooks is the master of the tragi-comedy, and while I doubt there's anything in HOW DO YOU KNOW that will make your eyes well up, there is a great deal of unexpectedly strong material here well worth your time and money.
Brooks has done something brave with his latest work (his first since 2004's SPANGLISH): he's hired three lead actors you would not necessarily expect this kind of depth from, despite them all being highly capable performers. Owen Wilson takes his laid-back, surfer-dude persona and tweaked it just slightly to play Matty, a major league baseball pitcher who never had trouble getting the ladies. He falls madly in love with Lisa (Reese Witherspoon), a Olympic-grade softball player who was recently forced off her team so her coach could hire younger players. She's a woman who has been defined by her ability to perform on the field, and with that out of her life, she's a bit lost as to what to do next. She's also the kind of woman who has no idea how attractive she is, and Witherspoon actually convinced me she possesses that level of self-unawareness.
What makes Matty so fascinating is that he's aware of his shortcomings when it comes to relationships and he's willing to put the kind of conviction he gives to his game into his becoming a better boyfriend. He fails so completely at times, and even when he moderately succeeds, he demands credit for his ability to change. Wilson is a riot in this part, and he performs the role of a layered dope quite believably. HOW DO YOU KNOW is absolutely ruled by Witherspoon, who has certainly proved herself on the dramatic and comedic fronts before, but what she's doing here is so much more. She's a woman in transition, whose future is as up in the air as it has ever been, and it scares her. She cares for Matty, but since she's only dated athletes all her life, she's fairly certain there's more out there off the field.
Out of nowhere comes a call from a stranger named George (Paul Rudd), who was given Lisa's number by a mutual friend to set up a blind date. The initial call is to say that he's sorry about the mix-up, but he's seeing somebody. But after George's girlfriend dumps him when he is saddled with a federal investigation tied to his financial dealings, he calls Lisa again to actually try a date. George knows he didn't do anything illegal, but the evidence is piling up, courtesy of his less-than-honorable father (Jack Nicholson), who runs the company George works for. With the burden of his father and federal prosecutors on his head, George walks into his first date with Lisa and the results are catastrophic and hilarious.
The back half of HOW DO YOU KNOW is a little tougher to explain, and that's a good thing. Brooks isn't trying to give us something totally conventional here (although a smattering of underwhelming Garry Marshall-esque jokes appear here and there). Despite his desire to make us laugh throughout the film, Brooks also wants to present us with three characters whose lives are at turning points. Of course, the film still comes down to which man Lisa will choose (and whether or not George will go to jail), but by the time we get to that point, Brooks has earned this romantic-comedy trapping by steering us clear of so many other such trappings on the way to the finale.
Brooks also wisely takes his time letting us get to know his characters and seeing them interact with each other in straight-up conversation. There are a couple of sequences in George's new apartment, where he and Lisa just sit and talk, that are so charming that I couldn't help just smiling while watching them. The world cannot deny that Rudd makes us laugh, but it's been a while since he gave us a character who also made us care and feel for him. He somehow manages to not only have chemistry with Witherspoon, but also with his audience.
HOW DO YOU KNOW isn't a movie loaded with music montages, shopping sprees, or any of the other familiar romantic-comedy sins against humanity. This is a movie about adults whose lives are changing at a time in their lives when they probably thought such changes were a thing of the past. If I had one true problem with the film (and I can't believe I'm going to say this), it's that Nicholson doesn't seem as invested in his character as he normally does. He's not quite phoning it in, but he's doesn't seem as committed as I'm used to seeing him. Still, a scene between Rudd and him, where a decision has to be made about which of the two is going to jail, is kind of perfect as Nicholson tries to sweet talk his son into taking one for the team. HOW DO YOU KNOW is a keeper, and like most characters in Brooks' films, I want to know how these folks turn out 5 or 10 years down the road. That's about the highest compliment I can pay a filmmaker.
-- Capone capone@aintitcool.com
Follow Me On Twitter
