How Do You Know

James L. Brooks writes and directs a new romantic comedy based on the premise of two strangers meeting on the worst night of their lives. This funky, fresh comedy offers subtle humor and hilarious performances, a welcome relief in the midst of recent and rather dull offerings of the genre.

Lisa (Reese Witherspoon) is an Olympic softball player who is unceremoniously cut from the national team after being deemed too old to play. Her professional doubts become personal as she finds herself caught in a love triangle between her current baseball-playing boyfriend Matty (Owen Wilson) and an old friend dealing with a financial crisis, George (Paul Rudd). Frustrated by his father’s (Jack Nicholson) manipulative efforts to financially ruin him, George finds that his midlife crisis blends seamlessly with Lisa’s own problems. Now Lisa has to decide which path to take and finds herself asking the question that all relationships inevitably lead to: how do you know when you’re in love?

The film makes a valiant effort to answer this perplexing question, and draws from previous Brooks-Nicholson collaborations that were successful, such as As Good As It Gets. Nevertheless, while How Do You Know seems to lack the same panache of the former, dragging out the storyline slightly, the excellent cast offers up plenty of humorous moments.

In spite of the sometimes contrived dialogue and not entirely unpredictable plot, How Do You Know will strike a chord with anyone who has ever been in a relationship and found themselves’ unsurprisingly questioning the nature of love and what it means to be with someone.

Ana Pereira de Souza