by Brian Kesler
'I Don't Know How She Does It' is a talking head movie. It's chock-full of shots of heads that do nothing but flap and talk and talk, spewing - as Norma Desmond would say - "words, and more words!" In a movie that is built exclusively on dialogue, you would think the characters might have something interesting to say. To paint a picture of how bad the writing actually is, let me share a piece of dialogue spoken by Sarah Jessica Parker at a pivotal moment of the film. She realizes that her family means more to her than anything, and she runs to her husband with this new found philosophy and says, "I love you an amazing amount." I recall a moment from the classic 'Arthur' from 1982, in which Hobbs, the sarcastic and cynical butler, says to a prostitute, "You obviously have a wonderful economy of words."
The film is a sloppy ode to women who must juggle corporate careers and a family. Sarah Jessica Parker plays a mother of two who runs around like a crazy woman with schizophrenia in an attempt to juggle her crazy life, which includes traveling for work, planning for birthday parties, and buying packaged pies and taking credit for making them. What a hard life she has. She's so busy at work, she missed her son's first haircut! Whatever is she going to do!? She had the gall not to be home when her son accidentally fell down the stairs - what a horrible mother! The film suggests that much of the reason Parker is blamed over her husband is because she's a woman. This is the interesting thematic element of the movie. But, it is pushed aside for another, which is that Parker should be home with the kids like a good little woman.
The story likes to create conflict for the sake of conflict. A plot development in which Parker's children bring lice home from school has no other purpose than for a silly sequence in which, while in a very important meeting, Parker can't seem to stop itching her scalp. The film is filled with plot developments such as that with the same limited agenda. The filmmakers incessantly plagued the movie with jokes, but they forgot to add the humor. Let's get one thing straight. Humor and jokes are not the same thing. Humor is the observation behind the joke. It's the ironic satire at humanity and its many flaws. Without humor, the jokes aren't funny because there's nothing we can relate to. It's amazing to me. What did these filmmakers do? Get around and say, "Oh, you know what would be funny? If she finds out her kids have lice as she's walking into her meeting and can't stop scratching her scalp, so that she looks like a crazy person!" "Yeah, that's great! And we can add a funny line or something, like, 'I kept seeing bugs flying out of my hair into his inbox!'" "Oh, that's wit right there!"
The movie's not all bad. Greg Kinnear is charming and likable as always, and there are many worthy actors doing their best with such poor material. Sarah Jessica is not among that group. There have been projects I've admired her in, but I won't lie: I'm not a fan. Aside from Parker, even with the actors wading through the muddled dialogue and trying their very hardest, their performances don't do a thing to help their resumes. I understand that work is work, but some of these actors are respected thespians. Pierce Brosnan, Seth Meyers, Kelsey Grammar, Christina Hendricks, etc. Did they read the screenplay? Did they just take their agents' word that the film would further their careers? If I was in Sarah Jessica's or Mr. Brosnan's position, I'd be a little pickier with my career choices.
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