How Do You Know

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Simpsons man James L. Brooks has an ear for sharp dialogue and writing flawed, rounded characters not usually seen in romantic comedies, but those elements that made As Good As It Gets and Broadcast News so watchable are absent here.

There's no denying Rudd's a funny guy, but as George, with his nice apartment, nice suits, nice haircut and nice manners, he's playing his least likeable character yet. There's no edge to his stockbroker, under investigation for fraud (Brooks is at pains to point out he's innocent very early), and with his 'please everyone' persona, George lets girlfriend Terry (Shelly Conn) dictate the terms of their relationship and lawyer dad Charles (Nicholson) guide his career. As his world falls apart, George sees a ray hope in the shape of Lisa.

Lisa (Witherspoon) is an ambitious 31-year-old Softball champ who has just being cut from the Olympic team for the first time and the only solace she finds is in the arms of baseball player Matty (Wilson), a womanising narcissist she knows won't make her happy. Somehow, and this is indicative of the movie's vague plotting, Lisa and George go on a blind date and, because things are so bad in their lives, decide to eat in silence. It's a disaster of a date but George falls in love (we don't know why – all we get is Rudd's goofy but winning grin).

The dialogue, usually so smart in Brooks' movies, is insipid and flat. Brooks doesn't give his characters anything interesting to say and every line uttered dies long before they reach the end of the sentence. The obstacles Brooks places in the path of George and Lisa getting together aren't strong enough – they get on fine, he's recently single, she's unhappy with her guy. Even with nothing stopping them, Brooks' ways of getting them together are contrived and old: Wilson's apartment is in the same building as Nicholson's office so there's always the chance of that handy elevator meet; when Witherspoon and Wilson argue, she leaves for Rudd's apartment, an hour plus away, so she can "charge her cell phone." Eh? Everything here is pushed and pulled out of shape.

Rudd and Witherspoon work hard with their go-nowhere scenes but it's Owen Wilson, again working his magic by turning a completely unlikeable character to a charming rogue, that comes out best. Nicholson is too peripheral to have any impact. All too baggy and with little or nothing going on, How Do You Know just doesn't work. And that title (with its question mark oddly missing) doesn't make any sense.