I Don't Know How She Does It
Director: Douglas McGrath
Cast: Sarah Jessica Parker, Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear
Rated: PG-13
Running time: 95 min
One very late evening at a watering hole, a gentleman and I began chatting and upon hearing I was a primary caregiver, he started sobbing. His son just moved out and he had worked so much that he didn't even know his own son. The conversation finished with a sentence that stays with me every day: "No one ever dies thinking they should have spent more time working and less time with their kids."
That is pretty much this movie in a nutshell; the only difference is my experience will stay with me forever and you'll be lucky if you remember the name of this movie when you're telling your coworkers about the forgettable piece of tripe you saw on the weekend.
Based on Allison Pearson's novel, Sarah Jessica Parker plays Kate Reddy, a big-city career girl with kids and a supportive husband played by Greg Kinnear. She goes through the paces spending screen time with people who only have their kids or only have their jobs; both groups go out of their way to repeat the title of the movie. Then comes her big break as she hooks up a job with investor Pierce Brosnan. From there it's just more of the same, with the direction relying heavily on pop-outs, freeze frames and other gimmicks to make the story click.
In the end, if you have kids it is absolutely impossible to walk away from this movie not thinking you're a horrible parent for watching this crap rather than reading your kid a bedtime story.
