I Don’t Know How She Does It
starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear, Christina Hendricks, Kelsey Grammer, Seth Meyers, Olivia Munn, Mark Blum and Jane Curtin
screenplay by Aline Brosh McKenna
directed by Douglas McGrath
Rating: ♦♦◊◊◊
Based on the novel by Allison Pearson, this film gives us Sarah Jessica Parker playing Kate, a professional working mother of two. She works for an investment house and has to travel a lot, so she is more absentee mom than real mom. Yet she is a master of the universe at having it all. She’s good at her job, which she loves, and she’s a great mom. How does she do it? It’s not just a matter of having a strict schedule and a cooperative husband. It’s a matter of juggling. While some things are falling, others are tossed up. The trick is to catch the falling objects before they crash.
However, things do start to crash when Kate has the greatest project of her career selling an investment idea to a New York venture capitalist and she has to commute between her Boston home and the Big Apple. That stretches her family to the breaking point.
Trying to be a man is a waste of a woman.
Throughout the story Kate’s female friends and co-workers deliver commentary directly to the camera. The story is about the toll it takes for a woman to succeed in the business world. The conclusion is that“Trying to be a man is a waste of a woman.” I rented it because I thought it would be a romantic comedy, and I felt in the mood for a romantic comedy. But it wasn’t very funny, and it wasn’t very romantic, either. Instead, it tries to be funny with a lot of adjunct clause commentary on equality of the sexes and the glass ceiling.