I Don't Know How She Does It (2011)

One of my all time favorites.

disgusting, overrated, pointless

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

I Don't Know How She Does It (2011): Dir: Douglas McGrath / Cast: Sarah Jessica Parker, Greg Kinnear, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Munn, Kelsey Grammar: Utterly boring and cheap romantic comedy that addresses the balancing of family and work. Sarah Jessica Parker plays a working mother who lands a big corporate deal that will have her away from home a lot. Greg Kinnear plays her equally successful husband who is supportive but understandably irritated when her cell phone becomes her life. Director Douglas McGrath makes a good attempt at presenting these themes but the screenplay works like a sleeping pill with its predictable drivel and dumb clichés. Parker holds her own as a cheerful woman wading through the stresses of work and dealing with a son who does not speak and a pouting daughter. The other characters hold very little weight next to Parker's charm. Kinnear is a fine actor but his frustrated husband role has been exhausted to death by many other actors and he can only go by the numbers. Pierce Brosnan as Parker's career contact whom she accompanies to land a deal, is the flat and obvious suitor whom Parker thankfully responds with correct payoff. Olivia Munn plays Parker's assistant who dislikes the idea of motherhood and prefers a relationship without the stress. So when she does get pregnant it is met with complete phony bullshit where we are suppose to sigh. Finally we have Kelsey Grammar in a role that will likely have him wishing for Fraser again. Despite its message regarding working mothers, the only sighing I did is when the concluding credits rolled. Score: 3 ½ / 10

There are words that I will put into a sentence. That sentence will reflect upon this movie. Oh SJP why do they put you in movies? Does movies owe you money? Is movies like terribly in debt to you, SJP? Like did movies bet on the Chiefs to win the Superbowl and you were all like the Chiefs are't even in the Superbowl, then take the money and now like movies owes you first born children kinds of debt? I'm sorry SJP, it's not your fault. You just a victim caught up in the game. Damn. I feel like the plot of this movie is about a race around the world, right? Everybody has goofy looking cars that are like themed like their drivers? Is that a different movie?

Wow, these reviewers are harsh on this movie. Very judgmental, much like out of touch mother in laws and mean stay at home moms are on working moms! Which were both portrayed true to life in my experience! Maybe viewers today are so brainwashed by our dominant media culture of bullies and violence that a movie about a main character that says thank you a lot and wins in the end is considered boring. SPJ's working mom is sweet and charming, and her life is portrayed realistically. Got a great family and great job, but no time or energy to bake or have sex? Endless lists? Feeling like you're always letting someone down? Dressed nice but have a stain you didn't notice until you arrived at work? True. Greg Kinnear, Chistina Hendricks, and Olivia Munn were likable at SPJ's husband, best friend, and ambivalent co-worker. Hendricks' single mom and Munn's sarcastic Momo stood out here among characters whose depth was underwritten. I will agree with two concerns 1) The voice overs, side comments, and frame freezes were at first funny, but then seemed awkward and inconsistent - I could see why some reviewers weren't sure exactly what the movie was trying to say. Was it a feminist commentary, a comedy, a romance? Why not all 3? We are a multi-tasking culture after all. While the script did have a rushed and unpolished feel, the scenes' brevity reflected the fast pace of the character's world. I had thought maybe SPJ's and Munn's character would end up job sharing, which would have shown even more evolution for the characters and SPJ's employer.2)When SPJ's character took the big assignment, the main source of conflict centering the movie, I expected to see more struggle or motivation to explain why she accepted it when she was already missing her kids and feeling overwhelmed. I thought the husband and wife disagreements were realistic but at times underwritten or even missing.Also, when I saw Jane Curtain first enter the daughter's birthday party, I had high expectations she would add to the comedy given her SNL background and past portrayal of a single mom in "Kate and Allie" (a great show in the 80s), but her role was minimized which felt like a loss. I enjoyed this movie....I admit I am in the target audience...and how the main character handled fidelity and finally learned to set boundaries was refreshing instead of the same old clichés. Not deep but overall a fun popcorn movie break with a charming cast.

An ironic title for such an obvious and in many ways clichéd plot premise. Directed by Douglas McGrath and adapted from the popular novel by Allison Pearson, the film follows Kate Reddy in her apparent 'struggle' to maintain a work-life balance. A powerful business woman with a loving husband, beautiful children and oodles of cash, it is difficult from the off to see where the problem is. And who, I hear you ask, is the woman to take on this complex and challenging role? Stepping out of her Jimmy Choos and into, well Louboutins, is SJP (Sarah Jessica Parker), perfectly preened as ever, trying and unfortunately failing to convince us that she doesn't even have time to brush her hair in the morning. Whilst Kate flits between Boston and New York, pursuing the deal that could define her career, we are treated to a series of slightly odd and disjointed straight to camera dialogue segments, in which characters completely unrelated to the plot tell us what being a good mother means to them. Case and point is gym bunny Wendy Best (Busy Phillips) who sees working out all day, but making sure she is home for the kids after school, as the quintessential quality of a good mother. Questionable logic at best.Returning to globetrotter Kate, we are teased with the possibility of a burgeoning illicit romance with suave financial big-shot Jack Abelhammer (the ever so wooden Pierce Brosnan). With all the racy instant messaging and exciting evenings out with the 'normal folk' at the bowling lanes, it's a wonder that Kate is able to resist Jack's smooth and symphonic declaration of love. Irony becomes the only way of describing such awkward interaction. Things barely get any better with Richard, (Greg Kinnear) sweet and unassuming, left to play house husband; aside from the full time nanny of course. The lack of chemistry in both of these couplings can at times be painful to watch. On a general note, the film is stripped of all its British wit, the book originally being set in London, for American schmaltz. SJP doesn't even bring to the film the sassy 'woman who has it all' vibe from her Sex and the City days. There is no true sense of a woman on the edge, as the title suggests. The film addresses the right issues: the struggles of motherhood, from finding pancake batter on a suit lapel to the nightmare of nits are all explored, but they are not taken to the point of desperation to prompt empathy or even sympathy in the viewer. The film wraps with a thought provoking moral…as the snow conveniently begins to fall outside the school gates Kate can finally fulfill the important promise she made to her children to, wait for it, build a snow man.