How Do You Know?

I’m back from a wonderful vacation with my folks, and you know what that means!  Time to get back to it!  This weekend, we watched How Do You Know with Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson and Jack Nicholson.

The film is about a softball star (Witherspoon’s character) who comes to a crossroads in her life after being cut from Team USA.  That crossroads seems to coincide with the type of man she would like to date/spend the rest of her life with.  Owen Wilson’s character is athletic, fun, spontaneous and not overly thoughtful.  Paul Rudd’s character is awkward, lovable, and kind.  Both meet different needs that she has, and she spends the movie sort of deciding which needs are the most important.  

The film is packed with excellent one-liners and the awkward moments that I came to know and love from Rudd’s stint on Friends (“My name is Crap Bag.  If you have trouble remembering it, think of a bag of crap,” springs to mind).  

Overall, it was a typical romantic comedy.  It gave me everything I wanted, and I loved it for that.  I’m not so sure it would have been worth spending $9 per person to go see in the theater, but it was a great renter.  I say that because it wasn’t a laugh a minute or anything, and there really wasn’t anything in particular to make it stand out above and beyond any other romantic comedy on the market right now.  But, at the same time, those things shouldn’t necessarily count against it.  As I said, it met all my expectations as a romantic comedy.

One thing that did confuse me was Rudd’s relationship with his father, played by Nicholson.  Rudd starts out by saying his mom left them when he was 7, and Nicholson’s character raised him.  But, they have an odd relationship.  Nicholson is very manipulative and ends up getting Rudd in a heap of trouble with the government - the kind that generally ends in jail time.  I’m not sure that’s an overly realistic scenario for a father-son team that should have a fairly strong bond after experiencing such abandonment together.  I mean, you get straight from the beginning of the film that Nicholson’s character doesn’t have a whole lot of respect for Rudd’s character as he berates him for getting into this situation – even though later you find out the situation is because of Nicholson’s actions.  I just don’t think Rudd’s character would’ve ended up being so…normal if he’d experienced that kind of verbal abuse his whole life with no other parent to balance it, ya’ know?  

Anyway, that was my only real qualm with the film.  Overall, I think it’s worth watching as far as romantic comedies go.  Best romantic comedy ever?  No.  Those slots are reserved for movies like Sleepless in Seattle, Music and Lyrics, and so fourth.  This one was nowhere near “pecan pie” status, but it was still entertaining, it gave me some laughs and made me feel good by the end.  And that’s all I wanted it to do.