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Ella McCay
Film
FilmPG-132010
How Do You Know
Directed by James L. Brooks
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. From TMDB
34 reactions from 3 sources (Bluesky, Mastodon, TMDB reviews) · newest Oct 2, 2026 · last updated Oct 13, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
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No Data
Sentiment labels for these sources are still being hand-checked; no score yet.
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bluesky * | 2 | 9 | 20 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| TMDB reviews * | 0 | 1 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
What people are saying
A written summary appears once the title has a score.
At a glance
How Do You Know is a 2010 comedy drama romance film, directed by James L. Brooks, starring Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson.
- 31 people have posted about this film on Bluesky, Mastodon, TMDB reviews
- posts span Jul 22, 2020 to Oct 2, 2026
Assembled from TMDB, Wikidata and Steam fields and our own counts, nothing written by a model. Method
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
34 public posts have mentioned How Do You Know so far, but it needs 10 opinionated reactions from checked sources before it gets a score. Seen it? Post your take.
The Experts
44%
avg of 3 sources
The People
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audience score
Reactions
34 of 34 · most liked firstDo people on Twitter still do that genre of engagement farming where they’re like “can you name a Jack Nicholson movie that is NOT How Do You Know (2010)”
neutral · AI labelView post →Worst movie I saw in theatres as a kid vs as an adult How Do You Know (2010) Great actors in script hell. Nothing, literally nothing, happens for this entire movie Rise of Skywalker (2019) I’d heard bad reviews, but was like ‘it can’t be THAT bad’ oh my sweet summer child, it was so much worse
negative · AI labelView post →whats the worst movie u have ever seen? I have 3: How Do You Know (2010) The Rise of Skywalker (2019) Disenchanted (2022) All of them are badly written and barely have a plot.
negative · AI labelView post →How Do You Know (Yearly Rewatch) Imagine a $120M 2 hour romcom where everything is wrong and ever scene goes on for too long. Genuinely fascinating movie made by aliens. All my friends in call are offended.
negative · AI labelView post →How Do You Know… James L. Brooks’ #EllaMcCay / #EllaMcCayMovie is bad? It’s definitely NOT As Good As It Gets. I’ll Do Anything… to get y’all to click on my review (that I’ve dubbed Broadcast Snooze.) to find out. freshfiction.tv/ella-mccay-r...
neutral · AI labelView post →afterwards sj is like "the movie was bad anyway" and sy is like "HOW DO YOU KNOW, YOU DIDN'T SEE ANY OF IT >:("
neutral · AI labelView post →Go look at the gross and budget of Brooks' last film HOW DO YOU KNOW. The end of his career has been a pair of absolute disasters.
neutral · AI labelView post →I'm still annoyed about the generic dramedy title trend of the late '90s/aughts (As Good As It Gets, Just Go With It, Something's Gotta Give, It's Complicated, How Do You Know). How Do You Know was definitely the nadir, I actually had to Google "Paul Rudd Jack Nicholson softball movie" to find it.
negative · AI labelView post →I'm not really a trivia guy, but tonight YouTube suggested an '80s movie quiz video. I got the majority of the movies correct. By the end my kids were shouting "HOW DO YOU KNOW ALL THESE MOVIES?!"
neutral · AI labelView post →“How Do You Know” (2010). This is a movie about Reese Witherspoon as a softball player trying to make the Olympics and Paul Rudd trying to fight charges of securities fraud.
neutral · AI labelView post →"Good phone call." - Owen Wilson in How Do You Know. Terrible movie, excellent usable line.
negative · AI labelView post →Yeah that’s my thinking, I’d have to see what Ebert thought about How Do You Know but I presume he gave it a marginal thumbs up because it’s a smart movie for adults
neutral · AI labelView post →I wonder who the biggest victim of Ella McCay bombing is: A) James L. Brooks, who has almost certainly directed his last film. It took Hollywood 15 years to forgive him for How Do You Know, and he’s 85, so… B) Emma Mackey, who will have strangers calling her Ella McCay for the rest of her life.
neutral · AI labelView post →As one of the apparently 4 people who think ELLA MCCAY is just a nice film. This was a great episode to prep for. Highlights include us parsing out exactly how to say HOW DO YOU KNOW. and marveling at the cultural staying power of the SPANGLISH sandwich.
neutral · AI labelView post →I like HOW a lot. But I am so, so glad we’re getting another James L Brooks movie I think, like THE WIND RISES, the way we receive HOW DO YOU KNOW will change once it’s not the “last movie”
positive · AI labelView post →love when this happens apologies for how long this list is Monster-in-Law Hitch Film Socialisme (yes I know I know) Hi, Mom Star Trek 5 Naqoyqatsi Nomads How Do You Know Singles The Fantastic Four ('94) The Ridiculous 6 RV After Earth Yoga Hosers Marty Supreme Yesterday Lovers Rock Halloween Ends
neutral · AI labelView post →when i was 14 i saw the movie How Do You Know in theaters and i think it was the first time i hated a movie
negative · AI labelView post →They are showing a short film called How Do You Know You're In Love
neutral · AI labelView post →As a gigantic How Do You Know? lover and the biggest defender of misunderstood weak spots in illustrious filmographies - I found the whole film utterly baffling. Almost every single choice.
negative · AI labelView post →30 Day Film Challenge. Day 14: A movie that you saw on a first date. How Do You Know? (2010). @motherofbeefcake.bsky.social and I were making out through most of it and I don't remember a single thing about what I did see.
neutral · AI labelView post →Umm… He’s 87. Can’t he just be retired? THE DEPARTED (2006) came out 19 years ago.(😳🤯) “His last film was HOW DO YOU KNOW (2010) after which he reportedly retired due to memory loss”-Wikipedia I feel so very, very old…
neutral · AI labelView post →The film is the replica reading "How Do You Know It's Love?" Every word of the analysis is the model's own, not a frontier AI. He gave us his scholarship and had no hand in the film. You can watch it and ask it your own questions: bamberg.shryn.ai/love
neutral · AI labelView post →Public service announcement that these HOW DO YOU KNOW movie promo shirts are on eBay very inexpensively.
neutral · AI labelView post →HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE TRIP AND ERA FILM.... CLASSIFIED INFO....
neutral · AI labelView post →How Do You Know? is such a bizarre set piece of a film. It makes a weird sort of sense that James L. Brooks is behind it. youtu.be/EOwmzfyF1oM?...
neutral · AI labelView post →Multiple picks of the #4 Indy Jones movie. It was not very good, but it's the fourth film. It's like the fourth of Die Hard. Eh. I wasn't pissed, but "How Do You Know" (Nicholson's last film) was pretty bad. Ditto one of Downey Jr's Holmes films.
negative · AI labelView post →The poor reviews didn't put me off James L. Brooks' Ella McCay. After all, How Do You Know reviews were almost as bad, and it's a personal favorite. This time the critics are right. This is a bad film!
positive · AI labelView post →Movie TV Tech Geeks #Movie #EllaMcCay #JamesLBrooks #HowDoYouKnow 4 James L. Brooks Movies That Feel Like Hell on Earth http://dlvr.it/TPpQdr
neutral · AI labelView post →Not a surprise to anyone who saw his abysmal 'How Do You Know', but James L. Brooks 'Ella McCay' is battling with Rob Reiner's Spinal Tap sequel as the year's most unnecessary film by a director who peaked last century.
neutral · AI labelView post →Movie TV Tech Geeks #Movie #AngerManagement #HowDoYouKnow 10 Worst Jack Nicholson Movies, Ranked http://dlvr.it/TNlnk3
neutral · AI labelView post →Very happy they finally let James L. Brooks out of movie jail. I mean, I’m not going to pay to see it. I learned my lesson last time. How Do You Know was garbage. But just in general, I’m glad he got to make another film. Probably time to give Cameron Crowe a second chance, too.
negative · AI labelView post →This is a song and video I made. The song is called Wonderlove. The female voice I sampled is from a 1950s film named How Do You Know It's Love? It's honestly a good watch. It dives into how people express their love in different ways. And how to handle some situations.
neutral · AI labelView post →Haven't seen HOW DO YOU KNOW, so I got as far as the fourth film.
neutral · AI labelView post →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…
negative · AI labelView post →
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