How do you know it's almost the end of the summer? Because the trailer for How Do You Know has arrived. The question mark-less James L. Brooks romantic comedy -- featuring a murderer's row cast of Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson and Jack Nicholson -- doesn't hit theaters until Christmas, but that doesn't mean its too early to start the hype machine on the first film from the Oscar-winner in six years. Besides, it already looks better than Spanglish.
Witherspoon stars as a former athlete caught in a love triangle with a recently unemployed executive (Paul Rudd) and a rakish baseball player (Owen Wilson). Much navel gazing, drinking and Jack Nicholson occurs. That the story can fit on the head of a pin shouldn't bother you that much though -- How Do You Know is an excuse to see giant Hollywood stars being likable and reciting Brooks-ian dialogue like, "Most girls' plan is to meet a guy you love, have a baby. But I don't know if I have what it takes for everybody's regular plan."
Not surprisingly, Witherspoon gets that bit, and she seems particularly game for some good material -- was Walk the Line seriously her last decent movie? Meanwhile her male suitors bring their usual goods to the table: sturdy everyman morality (Rudd) and slacker charm (Wilson). If there is a surprise, it's seeing Nicholson tone down his usual shtick as Rudd's father -- at least in the trailer he's more low-sodium ham than normal. (Maybe that has something to do with the fact that the part was originally offered to Bill Murray.) The only major problem? That Brooks wants us to believe Owen Wilson could play baseball for the Washington Nationals. They stink, but they don't stink that much.
VERDICT: Why not? Why not.