Pre Order I Don't Know How She Does It [Blu-ray] (2011)

I Don’t Know How She Does It [Blu-ray]

Sarah Jessica Parker, Greg Kinnear, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Munn and Christina Hendricks star in I Don’t Know How She Does It, a comedy from director Douglas McGrath (Emma, Infamous) and producer Donna Gigliotti (The Reader, Let Me In). Based on the critically acclaimed bestseller by Allison Pearson, I Don’t Know How She Does It follows a Boston-based working mother trying desperately to juggle marriage, children, and a high-stress job.

Kate Reddy (Parker) devotes her days to her job with a Boston-based financial management firm. At night she goes home to her adoring, recently-downsized architect husband Richard (Kinnear) and their two young children. It’s a non-stop balancing act, the same one that Kate’s acerbic best friend and fellow working mother Allison (Christina Hendricks) performs on a daily basis, and that Kate’s super-brainy, child-phobic young junior associate Momo (Olivia Munn) fully intends to avoid. When Kate gets handed a major new account that will requ

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This review is from: I Don’t Know How She Does It (DVD)

Absolutely a chick lit adapted to a chick flick. It’s fun, questionably realistic, and likely without Oscars, but still a solid entertainment with a feel-good ending. I confess–I liked it, along with my wife. I laughed at and enjoyed this movie. I had read the book. I read other romance novels. I confess!
We attended the opening day matinee of this comedy/romance, humor foremost.
Reviews may be mixed, working mothers saying 5 stars, men voting low stars.

It is a basic adaptation of the general plot from the book “I Don’t Know How She Does It” by Allison Pearson (British author). A major change was the transformation of London, protagonist Kate Reddy’s (Sarah Jessica Parker) home, into Boston. Parker is a woman with a nice figure but with a face more like a CEO than top model; thus she fits the look of the role well–tough business figure. Now her children’s nanny (baby sitter to the American film) is hot, Paula (Jessica Szohr). Momo (Olivia Munn) is Reddy’s office assistant and also hot, plus doing well with her role. Americanization of setting for an American audience.

Pierce Brosnan (007) is Abelhammer, NYC businessman who doesn’t get as far with Kate in the movie as he did in the book. Mr. Reddy (Greg Kinnear-`The Kennedys’ as JFK) takes care of the Mr. Mom duties well. Jane Curtin as the mother-in-law is almost a cameo in the film adaptation.

It’s true the book is different from the film. Endings are different, both OK in their own way. Actually for those who liked the book, you’ll also like the movie, and you will get a bit of a surprise with the finale. You won’t know everything from reading. The book has a lot of diary-like notes, emails, and lists and the movie picks up that aspect with documentary-style character addresses facing into the camera, stop action where a character steps out of the freeze-frame for a commentary, and read-along shots of text messages, emails, and lists. One favorite film sequence was a Kate/Abelhammer bowling night out.

Even without London street vistas, it is worth a view. Also read it (hidden inside a `Braveheart’ dust jacket for men not wanting to be identified as a romantic.)