Don't go see How Do You Know.  Why?  Because despite three leads who are charming and fun and despite a script written by the guy who wrote Broadcast News, and despite a rather novel premise, the movie is as dull as reading a book in which half the words have been deleted.

I saw it with three of my sisters, a niece and both daughters and NOT ONE of us was amused.  I don't think I cracked a smile through the entire thing, much less laughed and I really like Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd.

My brother Bill loved it.  Compared it to You've Got Mail.

(Full disclosure; I dislike You've got Mail the first time I saw it.  I was sick of Tom Hanks.  Clearly, I was deranged, that movie is great.  I was wrong.  I'm not wrong about HDYK.  Which is a super retarded title, don't you think?)

Now, Bill sees everything. A few years ago, he told me he liked A HIstory of Violence and he based that opinion on the fact that he'd seen so many sucky movies that year. 

Reese W. plays a world class softball player who is over the hill and gets cut from the USA team that she's played for for ten years.  So she's in a bad place in her life.  How does she handle it ?  By moving in with a himbo who happens to be a MLB star.  He's an idiot but she decided to over look that.  Paul R plays a businessman who just finds out he may have to go to jail for the corporate crimes of his father.  So he's in a bad place.  For some inexplicable reason, he liked mopey Reese when he meets her.  I do NOT know why.  She's very cute.  Maybe that's it.  For some equally inexplicable reason, Owen W. (the ball player) also thinks he's in love with mopey Reese.  For a guy who has chicks throwing themselves at him everywhere he goes, this is especially unfathomable. 

Why Reese thinks her only options are idiot number 1 and idiot number 2 are never explained.  The whole thing is slow, dull and lurches from one stagnant scene to the next.  I like movies in which each scene propels the story forward.  There were scenes in this one where I thought it was supposed to be showing us something about the characters but when they ended, I knew nothing new about anything. 

Sometimes a movie can have everything going for it; script, cast, idea and still fail.

This one failed.

My hands are killing me.

I got home from the bad movie only to find Jay on a ladder in the tv room, trying to stop the leaking.

Ice dams have gotten ahead of me.

I spent the next two and a half hours on my roof, chopping and clearing ice.  Once I found the proper mittens, it was actually fun; calm, dark and peaceful.  But that much time chopping means every muscle in my right arm aches and my hand is a permanent claw.

Good thing I finished all the calligraphy.

Gotta go to Target.  It's snowing again.

 

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