Chick-flicks, like the chick-lit on which some of them are based, are like comfort food. Not necessarily good from a nutritional standpoint, but soothing, predictable, and offering nothing challenging. The plot arcs will follow the accepted formula: cutesy and funny, before moving on to the inevitable conflicts, think of it as the crunchy topping on the mac-and-cheese, and then emerging into the bright sunshine of a fairy-tale ending. Its the nature of the beast and it does no good to rail against it. Instead, it must be taken on its own terms and, as such, I DONT KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT, based on the novel of the same name by Allsion Pearson, is certainly not the worst example of the genre. Nor is it even the worst of its own particular sub-genre, the Sarah Jessica Parker chick-flick. This should not, however, be misconstrued as an endorsement.
SJP is a brand, and her legion of fans will not be disappointed in what will seem like a stretch for the actress. Her character, Kate, is not obsessed with couture, but rather with her job as a fund manager at a top-flight investment firm in Boston. Its a source of satisfaction and of guilt, because it takes her away from her adoring husband, Mike (Greg Kinnear), and adorable children, a two-year-old who hasnt started taking, and five-year-old who give her the silent treatment for not being a stay-at-home mom. Though the premise of the film is that Kate is a superwoman capable of juggling family and career, her characters unkempt hair is still artfully coiffed into an impression of unkempt rather than anything startlingly unfashionable, or, heaven forefend, unflattering. Her clothes are sensible, but beautifully cut, with the favored stitched-down yoke of a pleated skirt, while stylish, not screaming obsession.
Kate is perpetually scrambling to meet her obligations, be it financial reports or bake sales or making lists of everything she has to do. Her husband, Richard (Greg Kinnear) is only mildly disapproving, rather than openly resentful, and her demanding boss (Kelsey Grammar) is as sketchily written as Richard is. Kate also has a mortal enemy at work (Seth Meyers), who is a pig, and an assistant (Olivia Munn), who is coolly efficient and mystified about the joys of family.
Enter the perfect storm of an enormous business deal at work that will make Kates career, long hours and out-of-town meetings with the corporate honcho (Pierce Brosnan), who is giving Kate her big chance, and Richards start-up business that is teetering with the economy. Throw in a Thanksgiving crisis and the perky best friend who is a working single-mom (Christina Hendricks), and the creaky plot has everything it needs to wallow in faux drama and painful predictability.
There is a refreshing snarkiness to the way Kate deconstructs her life, often freezing the scene and speaking directly to the camera, but the professional veneer that Kate should posses has instead been translated by SJP into a complete externalization of all her insecurities and rampant emotionalism. This is not a competent professional weathering the vagaries of modern family life, this is Carrie Bradshaw in grown-up land playing make-believe adult. Coupled with the sniping at stay-at-home moms that bespeaks more about the authors envy than a gift for sharp observation, the film becomes an uncomfortable unintentional confessional.
While bemoaning the double-standard, standard chick-fare, I DONT KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT undercuts itself at every turn. Hubby never feels guilty. He pitches in, but is not an equal partner in running the household, and Kate never calls him on this, instead apologizing for loving her job and wanting that as well as her family. The message is a disturbing one, and all the more insidious for being presented as the height of feminine nobility.
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