MOVIE REVIEW: I Don't Know How She Does It

Guest blogger Liz Parker is back from an advance screening of the new movie "I Don't Know How She Does It" staring Sarah Jessica Parker.  Is this the working mom's movie of the year or should Sarah Jessica just have stayed home with her own family?  Let's read what Liz thinks...

I just read the book that this movie is based on (I finished it last week), and the movie is barely recognizable when compared to the novel, except for the names of the characters. Ages, locations, and even characteristics have been changed, as well as entire scenes cut out from the novel to the movie, and so it will be easy for me to separate the movie from its novel; though I will say, as in the case of 99% of novel-to-movie adaptations, the novel was better. The movie ended up being cute, though, and I still recommend it for a fun night out.

Kate Reddy (Sarah Jessica Parker, "Sex and the City 2") does it all. She has two kids, a little boy and a girl, and she's married to Richard (Greg Kinnear, "Salvation Boulevard"), who also works full-time. They have a nanny, Paula (Jessica Szohr, TV's "Gossip Girl"), who takes care of the kids when they are both gone during the day, but she often shows up late, when both Kate and Richard need to dash off to work. Kate lands a big account and learns that she will be working in New York half the week (she and her family live in Boston) with Jack Abelhammer (Pierce Brosnan, "Remember Me"), a handsome finance man. Kate is already a professional "juggler," but now she must learn to adapt even more, while still making time for her kids and husband.

Sarah Jessica Parker and Greg Kinnear are great in this movie. I especially liked the voiceovers (a la "Sex and the City") that Parker's character does, and there are light moments of laughter sprinkled throughout the film. Her kids are adorable as well, and Brosnan is fine in his role, although I would have liked to see the role be a bit more developed (same for Kinnear's role, too, actually). Busy Phillips (TV's Cougar Town) has a fun role as one of the stay-at-home moms that Parker and her also-working-mom friend, played by Christina Hendricks (TV's "Mad Men") despises.

Yes, see this movie. Don't expect hilarity throughout, as it was more of a "fluff" film, but I enjoyed it, and I think that people will enjoy it even without having read the novel - though I do recommend the novel, preferably after you've seen the movie and not before. I'm sure working mothers, or even husbands with working wives, will be able to relate to Parker's character, and it was interesting to note that the ending of the movie was a complete 180 from the ending of the book; I don't think the book's ending would have gone over as well with moviegoers, to be truthful.

I Don't Know How She Does It is in theaters today, September 16th, and is rated PG-13 with a runtime of 90 minutes.


=========================================================
=========================================================

Liz Parker is a 2009 graduate of the University of Michigan. She currently works as an Assistant Medical Editor for a pathology website. Visit her at her movie blog Yes/No Films