As Hollywood bigwigs go, James L. Brooks has to be up there near the top. He’s produced some classic US TV shows including Rhoda, Mary Tyler Moore and Taxi, as well as produced and directed films. For 20 years he's also been the exec producer for a certain yellow cartooned family.

For this his most recent project, he’s pulled out all the stops by writing, producing and directing. And if you believe the critics on its cinematic release, he may well have taken on one (or two) credits two far.

Despite being thirty, Lisa (Reece Withersoon) still considers herself to be on top of her game, which just so happens to be softball. Unfortunately for her, the coach of Team USA disagrees, as he decides to go with a younger player and drops Lisa.

As she didn't think that she was quite washed up in the sport, she didn't really have a plan b in place. She's lucky enough to have a distraction by way of Matty (Owen Wilson); a pro baseball player himself who is starting to come around to the idea of having Lisa as a more permanent fixture in his life. He's struggling with the concept of monogamy though, but is still trying to give it his best shot.

He's not the only admirer she has in her life; a friend of hers gave her number to George (Paul Rudd). He's an executive with a girlfriend already, but he decides to be polite and phone Lisa anyway, just to let her know not to expect a call from him as he's off the market.

And then George finds his world collapse around him. He gets informed by lawyers that he's the subject of criminal investigations; even though he's not aware of the dodgy dealings his company has been making, he's the one who will have to take the bullet for the company. Actually that's not entirely accurate; his father (Jack Nicholson) runs the company, but if he were to take the blame it would probably mean he'd have to spend the rest of his days in prison. This leaves George with a dilemma: see his dad go to jail or do the time himself?

This is quite a lot for George to take in, it also appears to be too much for his girlfriend too, who decides that the pair could do with a break.

In a state of confusion, George decides to get back in touch with Lisa. Considering his instability, it's probably not the best decision he's ever made as he proves on their first date.

So Lisa finds herself the attention of two very different men. Now all she has to decide is whether either of them could be the real deal or not.

On its cinematic release, this film bombed like a Lancaster; it earned less than $50 million back of its $120 million budget. It was also critically mauled with the ferocity of a starving Rottweiler. The thing is, critics can and do get it wrong.

Admittedly Brooks loses his way with a plot that is overly cumbersome, but it more than makes up for it with some great performances and smiley dialogue. It should be remembered that Brooks knows how to write a decent film, having penned the screenplays for Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News and As Good as It Gets. And with this one, he proves that he's still got it.

It doesn't pretend to be a modern take on relationships. If anything, it owes more to classic comedies from yesteryear. Witherspoon, who it has to be said hasn't made a career of appearing in rom-coms, shows a real flair for the genre here. Rudd also puts on a suitably wet display as George. Although his role is probably defined as being the leading man, it's Wilson who manages to charm the pants off of audiences, if not Witherspoon's character. Wes Anderson appears to be the only director to consistently get the best out of him, but Brooks comes a close second here.

And then there's Nicholson; it's hardly a pivotal role, and Nicholson gives the kind of performance he could deliver in his sleep, but even almost catatonic he still manages to be far more entertaining than many of his fellow contemporaries.

It may have been a box office flop, but don't be so quick to dismiss How Do You Know; it is warm, funny and oozes Hollywood of old charm. What do critics know anyway?