I Don't Know How She Does It
I Don't Know How She Does It
PG-13 | 16 September 2011 (USA)
I Don't Know How She Does It Trailers

As an employee at a Boston-based financial firm, Kate Reddy struggles daily to balance the demands of her high-powered career with the needs of her husband, Richard, and their two children. When she gets an account that requires frequent trips to New York and her husband gets a new job, Kate finds herself spread even thinner. Complicating Kate's life even more is her new business associate Jack Abelhammer, who throws temptation into the mix.

Reviews
ChampDavSlim The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.
Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.
Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
jessegehrig 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?
SnoopyStyle Kate Reddy (Sarah Jessica Parker) is a Boston high power executive who is trying to do it all. She often leaves her husband Richard (Greg Kinnear) and her two kids for work trips. He's starting a new firm at the worst time. She's having a big meeting with the big boss Jack Abelhammer (Pierce Brosnan) in New York.The constant narration and testimonials are annoying. Maybe it's a compelling story for the working moms of the world. It's certainly doesn't make it fresh. I get the intention but it's not the least bit funny. In the end, that is all that matters. There isn't one good laugh. Olivia Munn comes closest to actual comedy.
Steve Pulaski I Don't Know How She Does It is another film that actually has a bit of a brain in its head, but rather than recognizing it, many people dismissed it on-sight as a film that was unremarkable and generic. Some even went as far as to call it an outdated look at gender roles. The idea of a mother being the breadwinner of the family and holding down the fort, juggling a big job, kids, scheduling, and a family that needs her now more than ever is not a completely new idea, but outdated? Definitely not.Does it need to be brought up that the United States is currently in a recession? That people now have longer hours at work with less of a reward, have no foreseeable retirement in their future, have more priorities and more of a fear for their lives and families well-being thanks to an increasingly tumultuous world? I Don't Know How She Does It is slight entertainment, but beneath some of its silliness and eye-rolling circumstances lies a cast with good chemistry, a moral that is still alive and well, and a realistic depictions of the struggles in a modern family's life.Sarah Jessica Parker is Kate Reddy, a woman in banking attempting to juggle her heavy workload, time with her husband Richard (Greg Kinnear), and more time with her children. When she accepts an even more hectic job by her boss Jack Abelhammer (Pierce Brosnan), things get even more complicated and she begins to lose the time with her family that she values. However, there are bills that need to paid, expenses that won't finance themselves, and work that needs to be done if Kate and her husband want to maintain the lavish home they live in along with all its benefits.Immediately, this will be written off by some people as wealthy white people complaining when circumstances do not go there way. From the beginning, I feared that I Don't Know How She Does It would fall into the same unfortunate trap Uma Thurman's forgotten film Motherhood did, about another mother trying to juggle all the responsibilities that came with raising children. While the film featured a solid performance by Thurman, it seemed as if nothing more than a look into a bad week in the character's life. Parker's Kate, on the other hand, is having a stressful life and if something isn't done, it will last for years on end.I think that's the little note people overlooked with this film. Parker lives a life millions of American women (and men) live. Director Douglas McGrath and writer Aline Brosh McKenna (who went on to pen We Bought a Zoo with Cameron Crowe) also gently explore the double standard of women sacrificing their work to attend to their child in need. It is Olivia Munn's Wendy, a coworker of Kate, who explains this in a one-on-one monologue with the camera (a style that is done often in McGrath's film to only some avail). Wendy states how that if a man cuts work to see his child, he is an honorable and dedicated soul. However, if a woman cuts work to see her child, she is disorganized, not devoted enough, and has the company's well being in the back of her mind. I remember my mother, who worked long hours as a nurse when I was a child, tell her coworker on the phone when I had strep throat at age four that she would rather have the illness than to have her young son have it. She cut work to attend to me, and she exerted the opposite of those traits with every move she made.McGrath does a fine job at getting his cast to demonstrate these circumstances with solid chemistry and a recognition that these problems exist outside in the middle class and upper middle class world. I Don't Know How She Does It is, however, a pretty simplistic iteration of it, but the film regards its subject matter with a sense of realism and maturity, never making Kate one to laugh at (maybe only if you've experienced something she went through, like having your friend's ultrasound appear in your PowerPoint slideshow) and never milking the screenplay for emotions. Kate is obviously a strong, mentally stable woman. She doesn't need your tears.Starring: Sarah Jessica Parker, Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear, and Olivia Munn. Directed by: Douglas McGrath.
cimroxy I avoided this movie like the plague after I saw negative reviews all over the internet (some of which you'll find on this site) and only picked it up to watch today because I felt like laughing at a terrible movie--and I like Sarah Jessica Parker. It turns out that this movie is super heartwarming and upbeat. SJP is very cute and charming, with none of the stiffness I found a bit off-putting in "The Family Stone". She and Greg Kinnear manage to create a chemistry that is actually believable. And Greg Kinnear is so manly in this film I actually found him a bit strong and handsome. I realize that the story is kind of a fairytale, but overall the movie seems to just be pointing out that it is different to live life in this world as a woman than it is to live it as a man--not just because of the way the world treats us but because of how we see and approach life. Women are capable, special creatures, with their own, unique purpose in the world--not in a "women are less than men and are here to cook and clean" type of way, but in a "the world would be poorer without what women bring to the table" way. To me this film is a celebration of womanhood and the important, myriad roles we play in society along with the joy and compromise that can be found within them. I enjoyed the performances of all the actors and actresses in this movie, although (apart from the two leads) I especially enjoyed Olivia Munn, Pierce Brosnan, and Seth Myers, who I always like to see. If you're on the fence, please ignore the critics and check out this film, it will restore your faith that decent, light, truly funny,feel-good movies do get made in Hollywood.