Review of I Don't Know How She Does It (2011) by Jessica D — 29 Mar 2012

Comedy about a woman torn between a high paid job and her family life. Kate works long hours as a financial expert and her husband and two kids start to resent the lack of quality time she spends with them. The situation deteriorates when she is chosen by a banker to set up a pension fund, meaning more travelling and more working hours. Plus the banker develops a little crush for her. Kate soon realises that she is actually leading a double life where schedules and overlapping timetables get extremely complicated and stressful.

It was about time that Hollywood made a film about a career woman trying unsuccessfully to juggle a very demanding job and family time. So far we had endless amount of movies with the same subject but with a man at centre stage. Obviously, being a woman the issue becomes more severe, people expect a man to loose the plot, but a woman âdoesnâ(TM)t she love her kids?â? The movie half uncovers double standards and delves in the moral dilemma. The problem is that I do not think the film pulls it off. It is truly unrealistic that anybody, man o woman, can cope with that sort of high speed life and not to have a stroke. And it is even more unrealistic the film outcome, donâ(TM)t get me wrong I appreciate that they didnâ(TM)t give us the stereotyped end: main character giving up her rich lifestyle to bake cookies at home, but still, who can honestly believe that the boss is going to give her more space and time to be with her family? Sorry if I spoiled the end for you but, as I was saying, the movie is flawed by the unresolved dilemma, it doesnâ(TM)t give us a believable answer.

However I enjoyed the beginning, the rushed mum buying a cake and shaking it up a little bit to make it look home made, the bed list scene and the spot on description of the âmumstersâ? (I know a few of them).