As likeable as Paul Rudd is, it's just about the only thing keeping this film afloat. Everyone else comes across as irritating (if not outright unpleasant), and the go-nowhere plot and weak laughs leave the end result feeling less like a drama and more like the little indie that couldn't. Poorly-developed mediocrity from Brooks that doesn't do its cast justice.

Bad characters, all annoying, they are all examples of annoying /bad character traits.

i walked in on this just a bit into it, and after seeing four big names say to my friend, why haven't i heard of this? and with a shrug we barreled on toward what most assuredly should have been a respectable waste of an hour and a half. upon completion the scales were removed from my eyes, i realized no one's heard of it because it really sucks, and after looking it up found that it's loss of thirty million in the box office reflected that. simply put, follow the lead and don't watch this.

Forgettable but not necessarily bad. It is what it sets out to be. Anyone comparing this to As Good As It Gets or Broadcast News is bound to be disappointed. Anyone comparing it to Sweet Home Alabama or any other typical rom-com fair doesn't really have much to complain about. Each of the actors were playing some of the best characters they've individually played in a while, unfortunately the situation just wasn't interesting enough to match.

I wanted to like it a lot more, it had a few wonderful moments, but more mediocre ones.

Weird movie. Not bad...but weird. Kind of didn't make sense...I didn't feel the sparks between the three main characters. I love Reese Witherspoon, which was probably the redeeming factor in this movie. Paul Rudd's character was a little bipolar. He came off as crazy. Not sure I'd watch it again, other that to try to make some sense of it...

Never really felt like a story, just a bunch of scenes which I cared nothing for.

What's not wrong with this film? Everything from the script to the directing, to the acting and editing is all done from bad to mediocre. Brooks really has lost his touch with this one and probably should just retire, or get his act together. Ignore this one. Really.

not a romantic-comedy maybe..but it has a under story about a way of self-actualization through love,belonging and all the life stuff..

#11#, popcorn, story, P Rudd, (Reese W)

A movie that you probably dont want to remember... How do you know.. by seeing the movie :). Owen Wilson's performance was surprising.

If not for the good cast, it was a movie that would pass unnoticed. A waste of talent. The characters and even the story, are poorly developed.

Went in thinking it was a romance comedy, but feels that there are more to it.

Entertaining at times; not really all that good or all that bad. It was a good escape from everyday life. Even if it did drag on...and on.... This movie was just too long for what it brought to the audience.

All I can say is, it was better than I was expecting; Which is to say, it has heart...

Reese Witherspoon is so god awful, the movie becomes hard to watch after 12 minutes. It has a run-time of nearly two hours even though it feels like four, which is probably the worst critique a film can have. I love how it didn't even gross 1/3 of its $120 million budget. Overall a shitty theater experience where you watch unattractive bitches drink Guinness and complain how terrible their lives are.

"Another romantic comedy triangle from James L. Brooks, with a scandalized executive coming between paired athletes--but neither the dialogue nor plot supply an answer (or a question mark) to the title." - Bill Weber

This is an airplane movie. Just entertaining, evenly paced, interesting and funny enough to keep you watching, but not so much so that you'll really remember seeing it or care to admit to. See also "New in Town" and "Everyone's Fine" Note: I did not see this on an airplane.

47.000

The most underrated film of 2010, apparently. In most films of this genre, the director is a bored god who pulls the strings and frogmarches his subjects to their destinies, but Brooks is more the benevolent therapist and How Do You Know is roomier than the narrow path of the typical.

Not-bad romantic comedy done in by an over-stuffed screenplay full of multiple characters and story strands that never quite come together. Witherspoon and especially Wilson are quite wonderful, but Rudd is too dull and one-dimensional and clashes for lead role with Witherspoon. Inconsistent characterisation of Nicholson's character (is he merely a scoundrel or truly evil, and what is the meaning of his final appearance) also doesn't help matters. A shame given the considerable talent involved.

Not the show stoppers that such a cast should be delivering. Weak, script, just didn't have the guts neccessary to make a great film; none of the characters draw you in; and none of the situations are all the charming, amusing, or entertaining.

James L. Brooks fails to return to his better years as a filmmaker and reminds us all of 'Spanglish' once more. However, 'How Do You Know' also has better moments than most romantic-comedy fare. Scenes actually feel written with some thought and intelligence behind them. The characters simply never become real, and neither do most of the situations. The actors are great, but our lead character is so lost even by the film's resolution that it's hard to root for her even as we root for the film.

I recently caught John Cusack on Inside the Actor's Studio. He was talking about how he didn't understand a thing James L. Brooks was telling him about his character in Say Anything... because Brooks was an old man trying to identify a young man. I don't think Brooks has lost his stuff necessarily, but he somehow thought this screenplay and these characters were entertainment. I didn't hate it. I just don't like it. The only entertainment comes from Jack, who has fun here when he can.

Bland. A polished, boring world where even characters with collapsing lives seem overly comfortable, with problems that seem happenstance and irrelevant, conflicts arising from sheer shallowness and short-sightedness and a love triangle as banal as the choice between vanilla and french vanilla ice cream. The least I can say is that there is nothing offensive, nothing risked and nothing memorable.

A good idea, but not so well delivered. Owen Wilson was great and Jack Nicholson was awesome as well. The plot was slow and poorly presented but it was not bad over all.