Director James L. Brooks is said to have researched the life of female athletes since 2005 before building up the character of Lisa Jorgensen played by Reese Witherspoon. Reputed as being a perfectionist (I hate that word as often under achievers, mediocre and averagely talented human beings hide behind the aura of genius which accompanies these so called perfectionists ), Brooks has indeed come out with some good films many years ago.Terms Of Endearment made the whole world cry and Broadcast News is probably one of the best films made in recent times about the cruel world of media. However it is alarming to think that despite working on a film for nearly five years, Brooks directed one of the biggest box office flops of the year! In How Do You Know, his latest cinematic attempt, Witherspoon plays a softball star who despite being a great athlete and team player is going to be dropped from the National Team because of her age.
Small digression, please check and see if you can remember the title of the film a few minutes after watching it, a memory lapse is guaranteed. Enter Paul Rudd with his great blue eyes and charming smile. He is George, a businessman who is having an equally bad day as he finds himself in the midst of a federal investigation. His boss is his own father, the grandiose Jack Nicholson who looks absolutely terrible in the film and overacts to a maximum.
Anyway Lisa and George are set up by a friend despite the fact that both are romantically involved with ill suited parties. George has an over achieving, Indian girlfriend, who, let’s not be afraid of clichés is a mathematics genius only interested in her research, hence her decision to break up with George when he falls into trouble; and Lisa is going out with a millionaire major league pitcher Matty (Owen Wilson) who isn’t a bad guy except for the fact that he does not believe in exclusive relationships and completely lacks depth.
But he is so sweetly idiotic about being completely unaware of women’s feelings in general, that it is hard to detest him. In one scene for example, Lisa comes to visit him to get some support, he quickly drags her to the couch, rests his head on her lap and watches himself on television, failing to ask her how her disintegrating life is getting sorted out. Wilson is very good and natural at giving blank empty looks and he is perhaps the only one who does not seem to be over acting.
Of course no woman in her right mind would have ever accepted to move in with Matty who has an entire closet of pink sweatshirts with “Team Matty” inscribed on them and a drawer filled with new toothbrushes for all his one night stands! But Lisa does decide to live with him after Matty makes a rather endearing request for her to do so. However she is quick to realise her mistake. This may seem a little picky, but when she moves in with her dozen suitcases, Matty barely gives her any drawer space and never once does he think to get rid of the extra wardrobe for his ‘one night stands.’
So we have Lisa acting like a brave little energizer bunny who is trying her best to figure her life out without much input from anyone and George who is a bundle of confusion. Added to this is an underused and badly directed Jack Nicholson and some supporting roles who must have been ordered to act as unnatural as possible. The main issue of How Do You Know is that it feels forced. The characters are not relaxed nor do they have any chemistry.
Rudd stares at Witherspoon with his lovely blue gaze and she, somehow does not seem credible and a sports-pro. The plot which is a bundle of confusion lacks clarity and is at times completely incoherent. Is the film about the short life span of female athletes, about crooked businessmen or a father son relationship? Or finally knowing when true love has walked into your life? Well at the end of it no one really knows.
The film bombed at the box office despite the Reese Witherspoon factor. A four star right royal mess, How Do You Know is the perfect example how something potentially good can go completely wrong while being a huge waste of time for its viewers and (hopefully not) a career sinker for its actors.
To be watched only if you wish to inflict pain on yourself or someone you hate!
The Sunday Leader By Sumaya Samarasinghe
