How Do You Know 2010

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: How do you know when a film is horrible? When it's How Do You Know, it's pretty obvious. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: A thoroughly enjoyable and surprisingly lightweight romantic comedy from writer-director James L. Brooks. Read more

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: ...the film is directed in a way that seems a trifle theatrical, or even sitcom-ish... Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: An airless, sometimes distressingly mirthless comedy. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: How Do You Know takes the wholly possible scenario of two decent men courting one woman and turns it into a forced lark that can't bring itself to ask if she's worth it. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: The sad part is that How Do You Know is nowhere near as dumb as it looks. A couple of comic set pieces are inspired -- or would be, if Brooks's timing weren't off. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: How do you know a movie is a total loss? When you watch it with a heavy heart, and sit through it like a stone. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Agreeable but disappointingly bland... Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: Preposterous characters lurching through painfully contrived scenarios. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Some of the bits are funny, every now and then they're sweet, the performances are OK and really, with this much talent involved, it's hard not to be disappointed in that. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: James L. Brooks wrote and directed "How Do You Know,'' and in addition to forgetting a question mark, he's also misplaced his point. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The result is highly entertaining but hardly ranks with the director's best work. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Gradually, you're reminded why Brooks gave us so much good television over the years, in addition to his better movies, chief among them "Broadcast News." Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: A dour sort-of romantic drama with an A-list cast, a few comic moments and the disjointed sense of talented filmmakers flapping their arms in an effort to make it fly. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Witherspoon, whose movie characters often exhibit a whim of iron even though they have a Barbie twinkle, is well cast. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: How Do You Know isn't Brooks' best. Witherspoon is too uneasy in her role. But thanks to Rudd, plus Kathryn Hahn as... George's loyal secretary and Nicholson as his father, it delivers a number of delights. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: The ''funny'' moments are whiffed, the dialogue is ''scene-y,'' and each reaction shot is held a second or ten too long, leaving the actors hanging. Read more

Eric D. Snider, Film.com: It's glossy and entirely forgettable, but the friendly, funny cast makes it worth seeing. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: A low-impact romantic comedy-drama from James L. Brooks in which the central characters are strangely disconnected from one another as well as from the audience. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Though all the pieces are in place for an amusing romance, "How Do You Know" (the title refers to knowing when you're in love) doesn't work out as it should. Read more

Charlie McCollum, San Jose Mercury News: What's truly perplexing about the failures of How Do You Know is that the film was written and directed by James L. Brooks, a master of the rom-com genre. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: The movie is all surface and trades on fortune-cookie wisdom and sitcom scenarios. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: Everything looks primed for civilized amusement, but somewhere along the way the laughs dropped off, together with the question mark in the title. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: How do you know if a romantic comedy isn't working? Generally if it's neither especially romantic, nor particularly comic. And in this picture, no matter how many times he keeps coming up to bat, Brooks keeps striking out. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: How do you know when to cut your losses and go see something else? Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: The product of an out-of-touch filmmaker that never really gets to second base. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: It is a keenly observed movie about loss of identity and finding love, in which Brooks serves up funny-ouch humor with slapstick heartbreak. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: It does some of what it sets out to accomplish and most viewers will depart the theater with at least the beginnings of a warm, fuzzy feeling. These days, it's hard to ask for much more. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: I expected this movie to be better. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Is "How Do You Know" schmaltzy and manipulative and not entirely convincing as a portrait drawn from real life? Sure -- and it's also richly, goofily funny, loaded with terrific actors and delicious moments... Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Brooks has given us the rare contemporary rom-com that's by turns (if intermittently) thoughtful and funny, and that doesn't feel focus-grouped, cynical, misogynist, or mean. It seems ungenerous not to cut such a generous movie a break. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: It is not funny; it is not heartwarming. It has all the zesty champagne fizz of Pepto-Bismol. Read more

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "How Do You Know" is a bit slow to get started, and it's nowhere near as funny as "The Hangover." But it'll make you smile. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: It's been six years since the last James Brooks comedy, so we might have expected a little rust. But not this weathered thing -- How Do You Know is so oxidized it's stuck. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: A film by the painstaking James L. Brooks that is so eager to ask the question about true love, it doesn't have time to mess with boring punctuation. Read more

Leah Rozen, TheWrap: Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: How Do You Know is not up there in Broadcast News's immortal empyrean, but it's close to the mismatched-trio comedy of As Good as It Gets. Read more

David Jenkins, Time Out: Contrived, mawkish and mirthless, this feels like it was made by people who haven't had any meaningful human contact for years. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: There's a lot of talk in How Do You Know, but not much worth saying. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: How do you know when the spark is gone? When your latest romantic comedy looks like TV, feels like greeting-card poetry and sounds like a self-help manual. Read more

Variety: Read more

Ella Taylor, Village Voice: Before it wraps up that question like the obedient Hollywood love story it eventually has to be, How Do You Know takes an unexpectedly candid detour through how incredibly hard just following that directive has become. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: It's the kind of movie that succeeds as a culmination of moments that ring true and sweet. Read more