I DON'T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT

“I DON’T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT” (Sarah Jessica Parker, Greg Kinnear, Pierce Brosnan & Olivia Munn)

I don’t know how they green lit this. However, I was expecting it to be the leading candidate for worse movie of 2011 & it’s not that – It’s Bottom 10 material, but not the worst - & the reason for that is Olivia Munn – her character (& attractiveness) save this from being total dredge.
Olivia plays the unfortunately named ‘Momo’; Sarah Jessica Parker’s assistant at the banking firm she toils for night & day, on weekends & holidays 24/7 a week, 365 per year. Parker’s Kate is married with children; Momo is single & happily unattached. Hence, Kate is annoying, Momo is sarcastic & likeable. But the main reason Momo/Munn save this film is simple; they are seen onscreen together frequently, giving the viewer something pleasant to look at instead of Horseface. I’m sure the females in the crowd of 9 (Myself & an obviously senile invalid being the only males) were concentrating on the horse that used to be on “Sex & The City” – And I’m not all that sure that the muddleheaded old-timer wasn’t gazing at the woman with the enormous proboscis as well, but I found it to be a great relief to be able to gaze upon Ms. Munn instead of Sham during scenes involving Momo.
Okay, chauvinistics aside, this movie brings nothing new to the chick flick stable. And I use that word to make Ms. Parker feel at home. SJP’s Kate is the reason for the title – she has two small children, an unemployed husband (who acquires a well paying job early in the story) and works for a demanding boss named Clark (Played by Frasier Crane of TV fame)
Kate’s already hectic life of pretending to be a good mother (she buys a pie & tries to pass it off as one she baked for her daughter’s school bake-off) is further complicated when Clark assigns her to work with Jack Abelhammer (Pierce Brosnan) a V.I.P. out of New York to help them land a big client.
The so-called comedy in this farce runs along these lines – Kate receives two emails; one from Jack saying he’s looking forward to meeting her & one from her best friend, Alison (Christina Hendricks) asking what she’s up to. Kate replies to the second email first saying she ‘has to go to New York and blow somebody’ – then she replies to Jack saying she’s looking forward to meeting him as well... Gee, can anybody guess what happened next?
Other than saying ‘thank you’ repeatedly, Kate isn’t the type of person that uses phrases like ‘blow somebody’ – so this lame attempt at humor doesn’t even fit her character.
After husband Richard (Greg Kinnear) gets a full time job, Kate’s lists of things to do, which she concocts in the dead of night while everyone else is sleeping, keep her up for hours... the strange thing is, there’s nothing on these lists that really mean anything. Take kids to school, get balloons for party, blow Jack in New York... Okay, I made that last one up – but you get the idea – her lists are mostly things that are done on a daily basis – you don’t have to make a list of things you do routinely.
In another lame comedic effort, Kate enters a crowded elevator with about 2 dozen balloons (for the aforementioned party) She pleads for someone to hold the elevator for her while she crams in with her massive display of blown up rubbery things; While I’m thinking, “Just wait for the next elevator you selfish dingbat,” Gramps and his keeper sitting in front of me are laughing their butts off as the balloons begin to pop... That’s when I began to wonder; “What is it that I’m not getting here?” Then it dawned on me, “Oh yeah, I’m not senile... yet.”
What else bothered me? On a drive to Grandma’s house for Thanksgiving, Richard encourages his family to sing along with Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day” . . . Like anyone on the planet knows any of the words to f***ing “Lovely Day” other than the title, which is repeated as often as “I know” is in Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine”
Seems I always have to take a shot at the music when it irritates me, but that’s just the way I am...
Seth Myers plays Kate’s nemesis at work, Chris Buntz, and he makes one of the dumbest statements I’ve ever heard; “No one goes to a pet store and says ‘I want a bird that cannot fly.” Huh???? EVERYONE who goes to a pet store says they want a bird that cannot fly otherwise the bloody thing will fly away first chance it gets & you’re out the cash you spent on the bird, you twit!
Several characters are shown after scenes as though they are being interviewed documentary-style as they comment on what just happened to Kate – a lot of the dialogue from these scenes seems forced (as the above bird commentary) except when delivered by Olivia’s Momo – the few lines that made me chuckle slightly were Ms. Munn’s.
Is this ‘style’ of interviewing characters an attempt to draw in reality show viewers? I ask because I don’t watch reality shows, but when I see clips of them on the shows that make fun of reality shows (Chelsea Lately & Talk Soup) this seems to be a major tool among the trashy TV veneers.
So I disliked this film for several reasons - let’s not forget the absurdity that decent looking guys like Greg Kinnear & Pierce Brosnan would find Sham attractive – but thanks to Olivia Munn there is something about it to like.
Okay, let’s all singalong with Bill; “It’s going to be a lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day. Gonna be a lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day. We’re going to have a lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day. Let’s all have a lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, lovely day...”
Sorry, those are the only words I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know...
Bill Withers . . . the master of redundancy!