There are very few movies that actually warrant a zero-star review. I Don’t Know How She Does It is definitely one of them.
Sarah Jessica Parker returns to the big screen in a film that blatantly banks on Sex and the City – the only thing that Parker is known for. Parker plays Kate Reddy, a character exactly like Carrie, Parker’s character in Sex and the City. Although the film is constantly interrupted by supposed-to-be candid documentary-esque interviews with its secondary characters, for some reason Parker narrates and, as expected, she sounds just like Carrie.
Instead of playing a “glamourous,” rich, stuck-up and fancy middle-aged woman, she plays a frumpy, rich, busy-bee middle-aged mother of two – but Parker obviously had no clue what she was filming because she plays the only character she’s known for, constantly reverting back to Carrie mode.
The story is so cliche that any average moviegoer can successfully predict what will happen in each scene before it happens. The writers focused more on cramming in every motherly cliche – gags that only mothers might laugh at due to familiarity – that they forgot to write something actually interesting and entertaining. Because the character of Kate is too old to have babies, a character is written-in as pregnant just so they can throw in the motherly preggo jokes too. Poor, sloppy and effortless writing.
What’s the plot of the film? Kate tries to balance work and family. Yep, that’s right – it’s about as much fun as it sounds.
Terrible movies still get one star for an actor’s fun performance or a few jokes that actually work. But downright brain-numbing stupid movies like I Don’t Know How She Does It are of the rare zero-star breed. Why so low? Because there’s no effort. They picked a niche audience and made a highly predictable and formulaic piece of trash to appease it. It’s the cheapest way to make a buck and the lowest in integrity. Movies like I Don’t Know How She Does It make critics reconsider their careers.
Photo credit: The Weinstein Company
