It's very easy for average people to attack Hollywood and claim that everyone there is elitist and out of touch with reality. I'm not 100% sure if this is true. From what I see on talk shows and read in interviews, I think that there are still some involved in the film industry who, despite their wealth, have tried to remain simple and humble. However, every once in a while, something comes along which negates all of the goodwill put forward by those individuals and convinces you that those who make movies know nothing about middle America. I Don't Know How She Does It is one of those movies.

Sarah Jessica Parker stars in I Don't Know How She Does It as Kate Reddy, an investment banker living in Boston. She's married to Richard (Greg Kinnear), an architect (?), and they have two children, a six-year old daughter and a two-year old son. Richard has recently struck out on his own and is looking for contracts. Kate's job requires her to frequently travel and she feels very pressured to balance her duties for work and her duties as a mother. Despite the support of her best friend, Allison (Christina Hendricks), also a working mother, Kate stresses about keeping up with the stay-at-home moms when it comes to school functions. Kate's world gets even crazier when she's asked to head a project along with Jack Abelhammer (Pierce Brosnan) in New York. She now finds herself on the road even more than usual, and while performing well with this account would accelerate Kate at her job, it places even more stress on her marriage.

I Don't Know How She Does It offers a double-threat, as it fails on two fronts. First of all, this movie is so mediocre that it barely registers. There is nothing new or fresh here and it's predictable to a fault. This is one of those movies where in the first act a character says, "I'll never _____!" and we know that will happen to that character before the film is done. Every character here is a stereotype -- the stressed mother, the supportive husband, the judgmental mother-in-law, the conniving co-worker, the bitchy stay-at-home mom, the handsome executive, etc. The story moves along hitting all of the expected high notes. The events are somewhat unique (the children have some bad luck), but overall, if you've ever seen a movie about someone in a relationship who has a job, then you've seen most of the plot points here. Doing this no favors are the distracting continuity errors in the film. If you must watch the film, watch Parker's legs, as she often goes from wearing tight to not wearing tights in the same scene -- I noted this at least three times. (And during one scene, her shoes change color.)

It's obvious that I Don't Know How She Does It thinks that it's making some bold statements about the struggles of a working mother. However, this message gets woefully lost along the way and instead the movie becomes very insulting to the middle class. About five minutes into the movie, we learn that Kate has a babysitter who comes to the house daily to help with the kids. I don't know about you, but I'm fairly certain that I've just found the first clue as to how she does it. Not to mention the fact that Richard helps out around the house quite a bit, despite the fact that he has a hectic schedule as well. Given her job, position, and house, we can assume that Kate has a fairly comfortable income, thus her "concerns" and "stress" begin to feel a lot more like "whining". The final act brings in the ultimate insult when Kate considers leaving her firm, because "there will always be another job." Really? Tell that to all of the unemployed in this country. Some would want to classify I Don't Know How She Does It as escapist fantasy, but the movie deflects that label by working so hard to ground itself in reality. Kate complains about a lot of problems, but clearly, she doesn't know what a problem is.

Going into I Don't Know How She Does It, my primary concern was the casting of Carrie Bradshaw as a stressed working mother. The reality of just how sub-par I Don't Know How She Does It hit home when I realized that Sarah Jessica Parker is far from the most annoying thing in the film. Lazily written, poorly made, and out-of-touch with reality, I Don't Know How She Does It made me say, "I don't know why I watched that."

I Don't Know How She Does It made it seem like a huge deal that it was actually snowing in Boston on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Anchor Bay. The film has been letterboxed at 1.85:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at 28 Mbps. The image is fairly sharp and clear, showing no defects from the source material. However, in shots where there are white backgrounds, noticeable grain is present. The colors look very good, and the image is never overly dark or bright. The level of detail is OK, but the image is somewhat soft at times. The depth is acceptable. The Disc contains a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 3.5 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The stereo effects are good, especially those which highlight street noises. We get some surround sound effects, most notably during crowd or meeting scenes. I didn't detect any notable subwoofer effects, save for musical cues. This is a standard track for a drama.

The I Don't Know How She Does It Blu-ray Disc contains only one extra feature. "A Conversation with Best-Selling Author Allison Pearson" (7 minutes) makes one wonder is the "best-selling" part was necessary. Here, Pearson describes the characters and the themes of the story. She also talks about reactions to the novel. She also comments on the movie and the casting.