How Do You Know

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Myself

This was very good actually. I sound surprised, I should expect more from James L. Brooks but that trailer really puts you in the typical romantic comedy movie mode. Which this is I guess, but it's better than average. It doesn't have those horribly cutesy characters, the comedy relief best friend, the a stupid sex scene where they knock over all the furniture, stoping someone at the airport or in the rain or any cheap gags you come to expect from film of the genre. It has the schmaltzy ending but I was won over enough by then not to care so much. And the cliches they do follow seem more... earned.

Unfortunately what the film boils down to is will Reese Witherspoon choose Paul Rudd or Owen Wilson. The choice is obvious. Paul Rudd hands down. So the film looses points for any dramatic tension there. But they smartly added the outcome of this choice to affect if Paul Rudd or Jack Nicholson will go to jail for some vague business wrong doing. Unfortunately they don't really deal with the ramifications of this part of the choice we just know, leaving the theatre that this ended unhappily for someone but we should be happy that someone found love.

So for Paul Rudd fans this is a must, he's never been more adorable than in this film, and for everyone else there's plenty here to like. As usual all the funniest bits are in the trailer but there's enough drama and other stuff to just push it up from being another romantic comedy to an above average one.