Comment savoir

I can't believe the low rating of this movie. I guess it's because it does not give you usual polished Hollywood story of romance: boy meets girl, girl has a boyfriend/fiancé who at first seems perfect but then turns out to be douche bag and/or evil and there steps in this new perfect guy, they kiss and live happily ever after, the end.

Here, both guys trying to get the girl are screwed up in some way or another. Boyfriend (Owen Wilson) is not a bad guy. He is not too sensitive, he sleeps around, but the point is he doesn't try to hide it. He is honest about himself. And throughout the relationship he tries to better himself and the relationship with his girlfriend (Reese Witherspoon). On the other hand the "new guy" (Paul Rudd) is depressed, has no job or money and is facing prison time. And at the beginning the girl he's chasing considers him weird. His slime-ball/businessman father (Jack Nicholson) I think just adds likability to Rudds character.

Also, what I like is there is no perfect ending. There is sort of a feel-good ending but it's not perfect. Although, for that you'll have to see the movie.

This film has an all-star cast... and not much else. The story meanders around and never really goes anywhere interesting. This was particularly disappointing coming from the writer/director behind As Good as It Gets, one of the best romantic comedies of the past few decades. This film cost a shocking $120 million and made very little at the box office, hence becoming one of the biggest bombs of all time. I only checked it out because it was getting popular on Netflix, I somewhat regret my decision. Just as Jack Nicholson likely regrets having this, as of 2020, be his final film.

It's almost unfathomable that this movie stinks...but it does, sadly. Confused characters bumbling through scenes, awful development of backstory, no chemistry, hardly any laughs and just a mishmash of WTF-ery :(

It has great cast but unfortunately, there's one very weak script. It's an example for having such a great cast as this one but unfortunately, it was misused.

By the way, that's a fine work by Janusz Kaminski the cinematographer.

Okay, so call me crazy, but I would NEVER give a movie a one star rating unless it was absolutely miserable. Like if I would rather leave the theater and the $10 I spent on it than watch it. How Do You Know was not a one star movie. The only problems I saw with it were that it was a little long. I thought they could have cut some scenes out and not only gotten away with it, but made it a more enjoyable experience. Also, with actors like Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson (plus how it was advertised as a comedy) I was expecting to do a lot more laughing in the movie than I really did. Don't get me wrong, it was funny, but not as much as you'd expect. I think if you go to this movie knowing it's more of a romantic comedy than a typical Owen Wilson/Paul Rudd style comedy then you'll be pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed the movie, I thought it was very clever and surprisingly uplifting and I thought it was definitely worth the money.