Whether you’re not quite the 40-something fashionista with a difficult pre-teen daughter trying to hold down her high-standing career like the late Sarah Jessica Parker, you’ll be able to relate to the underlining story behind I Don’t Know How She Does It — get your life together. Beyond the cosmos and Manolo Blahnik shoes, we have to grow up one day or another and face the not-so-tiny army of mini Martha Stuarts. Bake sale, anyone?

Sarah Jessica Parker as Kate Reddy and Pierce Brosnan as Jack Abelhammer in Douglas McGrath’s film I DON’T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT. Photo courtesy of Alliance Films.

Sarah Jessica Parker plays Kate Reddy, a middle-aged woman who tries her best to stay on top of everything, with the kids, the house, the husband, the job, etc. But of course once one thing goes well, everything else falls apart. As Kate struggles to balance herself, we get a little taste of author Allison Pearson’s take on the double-standard against working women with children. It’s not as heart-breaking as He’s Just Not That Into You, but there are some very important truths to it, like how ‘no one goes to a pet store and gets a bird that cannot fly.’
The movie tackles the typical problems a modern-day mother would face. What happens when you’re more successful than your husband, when you strike a war with the too-perfect housewives, when your male co-worker tries to sabotage you, and when your kids are disappointed with you. From organizing birthday parties to power point presentations, Kate unwinds the underlying problem when her husband gives up on her. “Even when you’re here you’re not here.”

Another thing we can’t ignore is the delicious Pierce Brosnan as the important boss-man that gives Kate her big break, with a side dish of sexy on the side. As Kate narrates her dilemma with white arrows and check-lists, pressing pause throughout the film and adding interviews with the rest of the cast, you can’t help but fall in love with Sarah Jessica Parker’s iridescent charm. As Kate says, “Trying to be a man is a waste of a woman”. Beyond wearing the pants and playing mind games, Jessica Sarah Parker lives the perfect example in her own life as that hard-working woman who works harder at home.

I Don’t Know How She Does It is a great (and not to mention family-friendly) entertainment option to bring to a holiday party. It’s not overly corny or especially avant-garde. It’s just enough funny and real to create those feel-good goosebumps without turning your stomach upside-down.

Trying to balance work and family is a non-stop juggling act for Kate Reddy (Sarah Jessica Parker). As a determined Boston-based finance executive, she devotes her days to her job and her nights to her adoring husband Richard (Greg Kinnear) and their two young children. In between conference calls, meetings, deadlines, and her daughter’s school bake sale, Kate manages to survive on a daily basis.But when she gets handed a major new account that will require frequent trips to New York, and Richard also wins the new job he’s been hoping for, both will be spreading themselves even thinner. Complicating matters is Kate’s charming new business associate Jack Abelhammer (Pierce Brosnan), a handsome executive whose unexpected emotional support becomes a source of refuge.

I Don’t Know How She Does It arrives on DVD Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012. Be sure to grab a copy for yourself and a friend!

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