Oh man, so get this. I don’t really like … get how my wife does it? Like even thinking about it gave me a headache so bad the doctor said it gave me a concussion and now I don’t remember a thing! Do you remember what happened in I Don’t Know How She Does It?
Pop Quiz Hot Shot!
1) In the beginning of the film we learn the secret to How She Does It. What is the thing she does every night as she falls asleep that is the secret to her success?
2) Uh oh, someone is moving on up. Seems like I also don’t know how He Does It (professionally). What does Greg Kinnear do for a living?
3) Well, it looks like I still Don’t Know How She Does It. Or is it What She Does? What does she do for a living and what is the big project she’ll be working on with bonafide hunk Pierce Brosnan?
4) What is the final straw for Greg Kinnear which makes him go I Don’t Know Why She Does It?! And just when her project was going so well too!
5) What big event does she promise her young daughter and Greg Kinnear is like I Don’t Think She’s Going To Do It, and everyone is like She’s Definitely Going To Do It?
Bonus Question: I was just wiping away the tears from my rewatch of I Don’t Know How She Does It when my agent calls. What does he want?
Answers
1) She makes lists. Later we learn that Kinnear doesn’t like her lists, although he secretly tried the list method and it didn’t work for him. And in the end she learns that life is about more than lists. Awwwwwww.
2) He’s an architect. Aren’t they all? And he decided to forge his own path right when the financial collapse happens so he’s been putting bathroom remodels together. But now he’s in the big leagues, he got the design contract for an apartment building (I think, I don’t really remember).
3) She’s an eeeeeeeevil banker. But not really, since the shadow of the financial collapse looms over the film the film is actually about a Banker with a Heart of Gold. She just wants to create a fund that really works for the client instead of just generating big bucks for the bank. Like the days of yore … but first, fine, she has to prove that it can generate big bucks for the bank.
4) She leaves Thanksgiving dinner. Like literally like … during dinner. It is nuts. But oh boy is Greg Kinnear steamed.
5) She promises to build a snowman with her daughter when it snows for the first time in NYC. And then there wasn’t snow for a decade because of climate change and her daughter never forgives her. Naw, just joshing. Obviously it snows like right when the bad boss banker is like “you have to go on a work trip” and she’s like “naw.” And in the end we have the heartwarming tale of: if you work incredibly hard for 20 years and neglect your family your boss might eventually deign to allow you to skip the big work trip leaving Christmas morning (but he’ll still make you feel like shit about it). Awwwwwwww.
Bonus Answer: “We did it, Patrick! We got the big pitch accepted. One problem, it is going to be a lot of travel and you’ll have to work with the executive heading it up. She’s a hardass.” No problem I think … although, I hope she’s not a super sexy eligible bachelorette. She isn’t, right? WRONG. But, I’m all business, everyone knows that. By which I mean, I say fuck deadlines and go full Hemmingway when I write scripts, it is a one way ticket to Bendertown, U.S.A. Lucky for me, that is also my new writing partner’s method. After she drinks another person under the table and we evade the police (again) I had to admit it. I was in love. As I put the finishing touches on the script, I turn to her and have to admit my feelings. I love you (I say). She just shakes her head. Sorry, I’m married to my job. The action is the juice you know. I did know. And I submit my script. Hard pass. Incomprehensible (again) they say. All’s fair in love and war I suppose.
The film was called I Still Don’t Know How She Does It: Bendertown, U.S.A. and sure, it doesn’t have a traditional “plot” but they didn’t need to be so mean in the notes.
Bad Movie Twins 