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How Do You Know
2010 121 min United States of America PG-13 16+
★5.2
Comedy, Drama, Romance
Director: James L. Brooks
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Description
After being cut from the USA softball team and feeling a bit past her prime, Lisa finds herself evaluating her life and in the middle of a love triangle, as a corporate guy in crisis competes with her current, baseball-playing beau.
Budget:
$120M
US Gross:
$30.21M
Worldwide:
$48.67M
Starring
Reese Witherspoon
Actor
Paul Rudd
Actor
Owen Wilson
Actor
Awards
3 nominations total
Key opinion
How Do You Know is widely considered a disappointment, with critics and audiences citing an uninspired, generic screenplay that fails to balance its comedic and dramatic aspirations. While a minority of viewers find value in its low-stakes, slice-of-life tone and character-driven moments, the consensus describes the film as a bloated, aimless production that squanders its high-profile cast.
| Screenplay | The film suffers from a generic, unoriginal screenplay that relies on predictable tropes rather than meaningful plot progression or sharp dialogue. | |
| Acting | The high-profile ensemble, including Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, and Paul Rudd, is largely perceived as underutilized or miscast, failing to elevate the lackluster material. | |
| Humor | The humor is frequently criticized as being ill-conceived or absent, leaving the film in an awkward tonal void between comedy and melodrama. | |
| Acting | Jack Nicholson's performance is a polarizing element, seen by some as a rare highlight of charisma and by others as a disjointed addition that fails to save the film. | |
| Runtime | The two-hour runtime is a point of contention: critics argue it feels bloated and aimless, while a smaller group finds the slow, contemplative pace necessary for the character studies. |