How Do You Know? (2010)

I know. I really do like formulaic romantic comedies more than the average bear. My only defense is that I only really like about half the ones I see, it is just that I like them way more than the critics do, and that makes me at odds with the majority opinion on a number of occasions--including this one.
So here is the scene. Lisa (Reese Witherspoon) is a long-time amatuer athlete, currently on the US Olympic Women's Softball team--but not for long. She is getting long in the tooth in her coach's eye, and so for no other reason than her age, she is cut. Just as this is happening, she meets two men--Matty (Luke Wilson), who has a 94 MPH fast ball and a $14 million annual pay check, and George (Paul Rudd) who is under federal investigation for securities fraud.
Luke Wilson plays Matty pitch perfect (pun intended)--this is the role he is best at--the womanizer who has just enough aw shucks charm to pull it off. Lisa knows what she is getting into from the first morning after, when she opens the "toothbrush drawer" and finds dozens of unopened toothbrushes, and Matty offers her clean clothes from his closet full of new women's clothing in various sizes. The man has been around the block a few times. This week. She has her eyes wide open--but so is her mouth. Her character has a tendency to say what she thinks, and not to shy away from difficult conversations. I like that in a leading lady. She is also very likable, and she doesn't look like the last time she ate was a month ago.
George really likes Lisa but feels compelled to share with her his diminished circumstances--that he is being investigated, that his company probably did something wrong, and that he has moved into a smaller place to afford the attorney's fees--Lisa's comment about him being a "real chick magnet" is gracefully and humbly recieved. He holds out hopes for a romance, but Lisa is giving the thing with Matty a chance.
The fourth super star in this is Jack Nicholson, who plays George's father, and who is the real perpetrator of fraud here--he doesn't get to do much with this role--none of the devilish evil that Nicholson can do so well comes out here, and he really doesn't get to shine here, which is a shame.
In any case, the story plays out, and Lisa figures out who she wants to spend time with. Fun from start to finish.