Now You Know (2002)

Don't listen to the negative reviews

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Boy, I hate to rip on this movie. Clerks was a masterful film, one of the landmarks of independent cinema, and Jeff Anderson's performance as Randall was a big reason for that. If Kevin Smith's name wasn't also on this thing, as in "Kevin Smith presents Now You Know" on the DVD cover, I'd be sorely tempted to let this one go and move on to the next piece of crap. But people who love Smith's work are going to rent this thing. People who loved Anderson in Clerks as much as I do are going to rent this thing. Somebody has to warn them they're better off watching Mallrats or Cop Out again.Before I get into the story, let me make this clear. Kevin Smith has a well deserved, and self acknowledged, reputation as an excellent writer who isn't all that wonderful a director. His movies are great because of what people say, not what they do or how they're shown doing it. Well, take all the criticisms of Smith as a filmmaker, multiply them by 5 and then subtract all the clever dialog and interesting characters. The product of that equation is Jeff Anderson writing and directing in this motion picture.Now You Know is about Jeremy (Jeremy Sisto) and Kerri (Rashida Jones), two New Jersey kids who grew up together, fell in love and moved to Las Vegas where they and everyone else expected them to eventually get married. But then Kerri called off the wedding and refused to tell Jeremy why. Now they're both stuck taking a trip back to Jersey for what would have been their marriage and instead they have to hang around with their old friends and try and explain what happened. That doesn't seem terribly promising but Anderson has genuinely come up with an interesting premise. As it's set up, it appears that Kerri is the bad guy in this situation. She's the one who broke up with Jeremy. But what Anderson tries to get to in his story is that while Kerri is the one who acted, it's really Jeremy's doubts about holy matrimony and their relationship which passive-aggressively pushed Kerri into calling things off. That's an interesting and somewhat sophisticated foundation on which to build a raunchy romantic comedy.After putting down that foundation, however, it's like Anderson hired a bunch of blind and deaf quadruple amputees to build his house. Scenes are staged and shot in the most boring and rudimentary manner. Instead of conversations between characters sounding like smarter versions of what you say to your own friends, the dialog hear is like dumber versions of what you say to people at work you barely know. The sets do look like they were made by professionals, but pros who barely had enough money to pay for coffee in the morning, let alone props and furniture. One of the characters only exists because Anderson wanted to begin and end with the same lame joke. Jeremy Sisto and Rashida Jones walk around with atrocious hairstyles that don't match up with the way any other character looks. Three extraneous characters are tossed in toward the end as though Anderson lost a bet with his agent and had to find work for the agent's other clients. And the head-shakingly worst bit is how Anderson repeatedly subjects the viewer to extended scenes that revolve around Trevor Fehrman, playing one of Jeremy's Jersey buddies, as though Fehrman is supposed to be this movie's Jason Mewes. The difference is that Mewes has undeniable on screen presence and Fehrman has all the charisma of a sea anemone.Now You Know is too long, too slack, too slow and too subdued. It has all the energy of an octogenarian with two broken hips and as much edge as a bag of tapioca pudding. I can respect Kevin Smith's loyalty in helping a friend make his own movie and get it out to the public, but sometimes supporting a friend has to take a back seat to not letting them embarrass themselves in public.

I wasn't privileged to see this film at the Vulgarthon, so I didn't get to drink whatever totally awesome Kool-Aid they apparently had on hand there! This definitely is not the greatest romantic comedy I've seen in years! I wasn't totally blown away by the great acting and incredible script, because they didn't exist! What I did find, however, were some pretty good comedy bits scattered here and there amidst a bunch of lifeless and boring romantic nonsense with lead characters that were extremely unappealing! This would've been a better movie if they'd concentrated on the Gil and Biscuit characters and deep-sixed Jeremy and Kerri, because I really couldn't care less about their dull romantic complications! And, unlike many of the people posting rave reviews of this flick, I actually have written more than one user comment!

I liked this movie a lot and it's been in the back of my mind since I saw it two days ago. The characters are eerily familiar to people I know (maybe that's because the movie takes place in NJ , which is where I live)and even though the two landscapers are over the top , it works and helps balance out the more serious elements of the movie.I don't normally see movies twice , but I'll probably see it again with friends on Dec. 13 and see what they think.

Definitely a film worth seeing. It takes about a half hour to find its pace, but once it does, Now You Know stays on track and delivers steady comedy tempered with warmth and sentiment. It's predominantly a comedy – and a good one at that – but it also explores modern relationships and male bonding (not to mention a little male bondage). The humor itself provides a satisfying mix – plenty of wit, peppered with perversion, shock schlock, and as you might expect from Jeff Anderson, penis jokes.The cast is surprisingly solid, anchored by Jeremy Sisto as the nuptial rejectee, whose dry delivery of humor and emotion are right on. Rashida Jones, as the rejector, is strong enough to dodge the easy label of "diabolical hag", mainly because you can easily imagine her as your best friend's girlfriend that you totally want to have sex with. Multitasking Anderson (writer, director, actor) infuses much of the levity, managing to avoid a "Clerks Doing Lawn Care" shtick. Anderson's partner in crime (literally), Trevor Fehrman, will likely get the award of Most Memorable, as the developmentally-challenged-in-every-conceivable-way sidekick Biscuit. Perhaps the biggest treat was Paget Brewster's show-stealing scene as a potential bar pick-up.Plus, it features Edie McClurg as a drunken lesbian. What more could you ask for?Very solid. Very funny. Very repeatable. Rating: 8 out of 10.