Quartile rating: 5/10 · 1 rating
As an employee at a Boston-based financial firm, Kate Reddy struggles daily to balance the demands of her high-powered career with the needs of her husband, Richard, and their two children. When she gets an account that requires frequent trips to New York and her husband gets a new job, Kate finds herself spread even thinner. Complicating Kate's life even more is her new business associate Jack Abelhammer, who throws temptation into the mix.
I Don't Know How She Does It is a fairly by-the-numbers working-mom comedy with a recycled premise and predictable beats. The plot hits every expected note—career vs. family tension, a tempting colleague, husband friction—without subverting or deepening any of them. The ensemble cast (Sarah Jessica Parker, Greg Kinnear, Pierce Brosnan) is competent but underutilized, with thin characterization limiting even capable performers. Cinematography is unremarkable network-TV level, and the mock-documentary asides feel gimmicky rather than fresh. The film's novelty is low; it covers well-trodden territory without a distinctive voice or memorable execution. The ending resolves predictably and neatly, offering little emotional payoff. A middling, forgettable entry in the genre.