‘How Do You Know’ disappointingly dull

Director: James L. Brooks

Cast: Paul Rudd, Jack Nicholson, Reece Witherspoon, Owen Wilson

Cert: 12

How could they possibly have cast the wonderful Reece Witherspoon in a romantic comedy and given her such a dismal script that is neither romantic nor funny?

The question raised in the title is, supposedly, about love and how to recognise it’s struck you. It is a question that never finds an answer since the plot has not, at any point, been constructed with attention to detail or a feel for romance.

Reece plays a softball star of Olympic class who is, nevertheless, dropped from the team; Rudd plays a corporate executive in crisis since his awful father, Nicholson, has fitted him up in a fraud charge; Wilson plays a womanising baseball star who is a sort-of item with the Witherspoon character, who should really be with the Rudd character, if they would only stop stumbling around and realise it.

But the storyline, while full of promise (undelivered), never lets them get to it. It’s such a disappointingly dull film that even such a talented cast can’t bring home.

Star Rating: 2/5