How Do You Know

"How do you know it's love?"

2010 2h 1m EN

😐

5.3

MID

★5.3TMDB · 1,080

ComedyDramaRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

After being cut from the USA softball team and feeling a bit past her prime, Lisa finds herself evaluating her life and in the middle of a love triangle, as a corporate guy in crisis competes with her current, baseball-playing beau.

“How do you know it's love?”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Reese Witherspoon
Lisa
Paul Rudd
George
Owen Wilson
Matty
Jack Nicholson
Charles
Kathryn Hahn
Annie
Mark Linn-Baker
Ron
Lenny Venito
Al
Molly Price
Coach Sally

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: James L. Brooks
Writers: James L. Brooks, Mark Moretti
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

$120M budget — tentpole studio territory.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 41% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 16 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CAST

Did you know

244+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by James L. Brooks, shot by Janusz Kamiński. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Hans Zimmer. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Richard Marks shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

James L. Brooks directs. Janusz Kamiński behind the camera. Hans Zimmer scores. Richard Marks cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1$120M budget — tentpole studio territory.
2Earned back only 41% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
3Released 16 years ago.
4244+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
5Directed by James L. Brooks, shot by Janusz Kamiński. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Hans Zimmer. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Richard Marks shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "How do you know it's love?".
10IMDB entry: tt1341188 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Janusz Kamiński
Original score: Hans Zimmer
Editing: Richard Marks
Production design: Jeannine Oppewall
Costume design: Shay Cunliffe
Makeup / hair: Lona Vigi
VFX supervisor: Rocco Passionino
Sound: Deb Adair
Stunt coordinator: Mark Robert Ellis
Runtime: 121 min · 2h 1m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $120,000,000
Box office: $48,668,907
Return: 41% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: How Do You Know (2010)

Also by

James L. Brooks

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Kamurai2020-07-22
★ 4/10
Boring watch, won't watch again, and can't recommend. Paul Rudd (especially) and Jack Nicholson are actors I would use as a barometer for movie quality, and even Reese Witherspoon (even though I'm not a big fan) usually is in quality movies, but this is just such a dud. It's the rom com equivalent to watching paint dry. Everything about it draws enormous attention to what you would expect to be happening and not doing it. Trust me, I understand that subversion of expectation is comedy, but there is a rate of diminishing returns on the repetition and duration of the joke, and if you play with that line, then you're writing a comedy for comedy writers because they are the only ones that are going to look at the movie / life as a punchline, and I don't think that is what they were going for. There is an underlying theme of patience and adaptability: life will even out even in the roughest of situations, but the movie just sort of stops without even an epilogue, they're just literally and suddenly not there anymore. I think there is a lot to get out of the movie, if you're strong enough to reach for it: a man who has everything but doesn't give you what you need isn't as good a man who has almost nothing and wants to give you what you need. It's a counter argument to "Nice guys finish last". Please don't waste your time, go watch anything else Paul Rudd has been in except for the one where he buys a French villa.

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