How Do You Know

James L. Brooks' How Do You Know was a critical and financial flop, and mystified grammarians for its lack of a question mark in the title. Curious to see how bad it could be, I took a look, and while not a disaster it's an odd film, certainly not up to Brooks' past reputation. Of course, he has a spotty record, with an I'll Do Anything for every Terms of Endearment.

One thing Brooks does in all his films is bend over backwards to get that lump in the throat. How Do You Know is a romance between characters who have each hit rock bottom. Reese Witherspoon is an Olympic softball player who has been cut from the team, and she realizes her athlete days are over. Paul Rudd is a businessman working for his overbearing father (Jack Nicholson), and ends up the target of a federal investigation for fraud.

Witherspoon is in a relationship with a sweet but narcissistic pro baseball player, Owen Wilson. She seems to barely tolerate him, but moves in with him anyway. Wilson is very appealing here, as Brooks lets his puppy-dog nature go into overdrive, and Wilson nails it. He's vain and womanizing, but also immensely likable.

The problem with this film is that though the actors are working hard, they all seem to be in different movies. Witherspoon and Rudd's scenes are almost surreal, as they talk past each other and at times seem as if they're not even in the same room. Rudd, an actor I like, is just too pathetic here, and along with Wilson the quota for puppy-dog behavior is exceeded.

Nicholson wheezes his way through his role so much that you could be concerned with his health.

There's just nothing about this film that struck me as authentic. No one convinced me they were an actual human being, just a collection of character traits. The screenplay seemed to be a first draft, with random lines and scenes that didn't add up to anything.