I Don't Know How She Does It

I Don't Know How She Does It - Dir. Douglas McGrath (2011)

Some actors will be forever linked to their most popular roles. That's the case for Arnold and the Terminator, Leonard Nimoy and Spock, or Christopher Reeve and Superman. For Sarah Jessica Parker, it's Carrie Bradshaw. As the glamorous and urbane New Yorker on HBO's Sex and the City, Parker launched her career into the stratosphere. It seems like she's constantly trying to recapture lightning in a bottle by playing variations of Carrie in pictures like Did You Hear About the Morgans?, New Year's Eve, and I Don't Know How She Does It.

In the latter film, Parker is Kate Reddy, a hedge fund manager in Boston, mother of two, and wife to a successful architect named Richard (Greg Kinnear). Kate's life is a delicate balancing act between her professional life and her responsibilities at home. Most of the time, the scales don't tip in the right direction and she misses out on things like her son's first haircut. Kate's maternal duties get pushed further back when her demanding boss (Kelsey Grammer) asks her to land a lucrative account with the phallically appropriate name of Jack Abelhammer (Pierce Brosnan). This new opportunity requires Kate to fly back and forth to New York City and even ditch Thanksgiving dinner for a last minute flight to the Big Apple.

Aside from a crushing schedule, Kate's primary adversaries are a sniveling co-worker (Seth Myers), who is just waiting for her to slip up, and a competitive "momster" (Busy Phillips), who can seemingly outdo everything Kate tries.

I Don't Know How She Does It was based on a best-selling novel by Allison Pearson. It was originally published in 2002 and given the seal of approval by Oprah Winfrey. The Weinstein Company got the rights and went with Aline Brosh McKenna to pen the screenplay. McKenna also adapted the workplace chick-lit comedy, The Devil Wears Prada as well as the similarly themed 27 Dresses and Morning Glory. Luckily, How She Does It isn't another story centered on a type-A working girl whose entire self-worth is based on finding a man. Unfortunately, it is a movie centered on a type-A working girl whose problems aren't a drop in the bucket in the real world.

Pearson's novel was written years before the current recession, which is almost never addressed at all in the film. The one and only reference to the economic crisis is a condescending scene in which Jack and Kate deign to grace the common masses by going bowling in Cleveland. One of the working class stiffs remarks to the former Bond that she'll forgive him for being a banker if he scores a strike. If only it were that easy…

Kate doesn't exactly elicit much sympathy for being a part of the financial sector. She and her husband are also upper middle-class and make a more than comfortable living with a beautiful home. I doubt mothers working three jobs and living in depressed neighborhoods will shed many tears for Kate when her most trying dilemma involves a case of head lice. Or how about the time Kate is forced to masquerade a store-bought pie as homemade for her daughter's bake sale. Oh, the horror.

McKenna and director Douglas McGrath (Emma, Infamous) exacerbate the smugness by intercutting pseudo-documentary interviews with the supporting characters as they emphasize the difficulties modern women face in the workplace. It's an irritating device that adds nothing to an already thin narrative.

If there is anything positive to be found in I Don't Know How She Does It, it is the performances by Christina Hendricks and former G4 hostess Olivia Munn. Hendricks plays Kate's best friend, Allison, a single mother who likely faces far more interesting struggles. Munn is Kate's assistant, Momo, who finds herself pregnant despite the fact that she hates children.

Oprah called the original novel, the "national anthem for working mothers." Something must have been lost in translation since the movie sets the women's movement back twenty years. I Don't Know How She Does It tries to answer a question nobody was asking. The real question is "Why would anyone care?" Not a whole lot of people since the film earned a measly worldwide box office of $30.5 million. Sarah Jessica Parker needs to find more challenging material than How She Does It, a humorless and out of touch comedy full of shrill characters.

Rating: * (*****)

Drive

Drive - Dir. Nicholas Winding Refn (2011)

When Drive was screened at the Cannes Film Festival this past May, it received a standing ovation and Nicholas Winding Refn won the award for Best Director. The critical buzz was building in anticipation of the film's wide release. Does Drive live up to the hype? In the opinion of this humble cinephile, I answer with a resounding, "Yes."

Ryan Gosling stars as the protagonist who known only in the credits as Driver. By day, he works part-time as a stunt driver for movie shoots. At night, he's a wheelman for heists with a preternatural ability while in the driver's seat. He also works at a garage owned by his only friend Shannon (Bryan Cranston), who provides him with the vehicles he needs. He wants to provide one more in a stock car to start the Driver off on a professional racing career. In order to do so, Shannon borrows money from Nino (Ron Perlman) and Bernie Rose (Albert Brooks), a pair of Jewish mobsters who operate out of a strip mall pizzeria.

The normally aloof Driver finds himself bonding with his neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her young son Benicio (Kaden Leos). The future looks bright until Irene's husband, Standard (Oscar Isaac), is released from prison. With his family threatened, Standard is forced into pulling a robbery in order to repay a gangster known as Cook (James Biberi) for protecting him while behind bars. Driver agrees to help in order to save Irene and Benicio. The job naturally goes south leading Driver down a road paved by blood and bodies.

Drive is obvious in its influences. Chief among them is Walter Hill's The Driver, which also featured an unnamed getaway man played by Ryan O'Neal. Both movies are also descendents of the existential crime films of Jean-Pierre Melville with their taciturn lead characters searching for a purpose in their empty lives. Gosling's Driver finds the purpose he desperately needed with Irene and Benicio. The choice to leave the character unnamed wasn't made just to evoke the similarly unnamed stranger from the Westerns of Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood, but to establish his anonymity. As a stunt man, Driver will never be the hero of that movie. He can only pretend to be the hero, donning a grotesque mask to do so. As the protector of his broken family, Driver can finally be the hero of his own story. The Driver moniker also highlights just how much his identity is tied into the car. There's a Zen quality to the way in which Driver connects with his automobiles, preferring a spartan existence on the road. Would that he could live his life forever behind a steering wheel.

Thematically, Drive owes much to the films of the 70's, but the look and feel is pure retro-80's right down to the neon pink cursive font used for the titles. The soundtrack is comprised of synthpop and an electronic score by Cliff Martinez that is meant to evoke 80's staples like Vangelis and Tangerine Dream. Cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel (who has shot all of Bryan Singer's films) captures Los Angeles with the same beauty and gritty atmosphere of pictures like William Friedkin's To Live and Die in L.A. and Michael Mann's Thief. Sigel alternates from gorgeous aerial shots of the city at night to roaring intimately through the side streets inside the Driver's muscle cars. This is a film that was meant to be seen on the big screen.

Even the chaste love story of the Driver and Irene borrows heavily from the 80's oeuvre of John Hughes. Both Gosling and Refn have described "Drive" as a violent version of Pretty in Pink or Sixteen Candles. The Driver himself looks like he stepped right out of a time warp from twenty years ago. His favored wardrobe consists of a puffy satin jacket, leather driving gloves, and a toothpick in the corner of his mouth. It's obvious he's trying to emulate the coolness of the screen idols he admired as a youth.

Gosling gives a remarkable performance as the taciturn Driver. Over the last few years, Gosling has launched himself onto another level beyond just "that guy from The Notebook." He's taken on memorable roles in heavy indie dramas like Half-Nelson and Blue Valentine along with showing a natural talent for comedy, both broad (Crazy Stupid Love) and quirky (Lars and the Real Girl). In Drive, Gosling proves himself to be a believable action star. Given a minimal amount of dialogue, Gosling speaks volumes through simple facial expressions. The squeaking of his leather gloves as he tightens his fist says more than any florid soliloquy. While Driver's relationship with Irene is an important one, it is the burgeoning bond between him and Benicio that is pivotal to the narrative. Gosling conveys this perfectly in a scene where the two engage in a staring contest. A slight smile breaks across Driver's face to show how this boy has broken through the man's detached exterior. Yet, this stoic demeanor belies a shocking capacity for violence. He strikes with the suddenness of the scorpion emblazoned on the back of his jacket.

Those familiar some of Refn's previous pictures like Bronson and Valhalla Rising will know that the director has a predilection for stylish violence. That trait is present in Drive as quiet moments give way to explosive acts of brutality. A tender kiss in slow motion between Driver and Irene leads right into a gruesome sequence in which he practically obliterates an assailant's skull by reigning down one merciless stomp after another. Refn never tries to outdo the classic car chases of Bullitt or The French Connection. His set pieces aren't as elaborate, but they are sleek and clever. In the gripping opening of the film, Driver evades the cops through guile rather than sheer horsepower. He parks the car by the curb and switches off the lights. Seconds later, he nonchalantly follows behind a police car obliviously waving its searchlight in every other direction.

Drive is Gosling's show all the way though he is backed up by a tremendous supporting cast. Bryan Cranston is excellent as is the lovely Christina Hendricks, even if her appearance amounts to all of five minutes. As a 21st century Audrey Hepburn, Mulligan has the innocent look and sweet nature to breathe life into a character that is thinly defined on the page. It's easy to see why the stone cold Driver would fall for her. To no surprise, Ron Perlman makes for an effective villain, but it is Albert Brooks who is cast against type as a menacing mobster. He possesses a genial nature that conceals a frightening propensity for violence. Much like the Driver, he strikes quickly and suddenly.

It is not often you will find an action movie that could be considered an exquisite work of art. Then again, movies like Drive aren't often made. Don't expect Drive to be another The Fast and the Furious or The Transporter, it is a more cerebral and visceral experience. This is arthouse action at its finest, a modern day film noir of vehicular masculinity.

Rating: **** (*****)

Life as We Know It

Life as We Know It - Dir. Greg Berlanti (2010)

Katherine Heigl doesn't seem to have a problem biting the hand that feeds her. She made digs at the writing staff of Grey's Anatomy and lambasted Knocked Up for its sexist themes, despite the fact that the film made her a movie star. Ironically, Heigl would participate in features that were far more misogynistic and insipid. She's frequently cast as the shrill and vapid control freak in a continuing stream of empty-headed romantic comedies. Life as We Know It isn't any different as Heigl once again plays an uptight professional woman who is thrust into motherhood with an emotionally immature man-child.

Heigl is Holly Berenson, the owner of a bakery and catering service, who is best friends with Alison Novak (Christina Hendricks). Josh Duhamel is the subtly named Eric Messer, a technical director for the Atlanta Hawks, who is best friends with Alison's husband, Peter (Hayes MacArthur). The Novaks figure their long-time buddies would make the perfect couple and set them up on what turns out to be a disastrous blind date. Holly wears a slinky cocktail dress. Messer is dressed in a leather jacket and tattered baseball cap. She drives a Smart Car. He rides a motorcycle. Oh, how will it ever work out? Well, it doesn't at first.

Two years later, Peter and Alison are killed in a car accident. They leave custody of their 1-year old daughter, Sophia, to the bewildered Holly and Messer. The newfound parents have a difficult time balancing their work and social lives with raising a baby. Holly and Messer may smart and successful people, but one dirty diaper later, they're suddenly bumbling idiots. One montage later though and suddenly they've turned things around and slowly realize just how much they match up as a family.

Life as We Know It is on the level of a bad sitcom. It's like a pilot for a throwback to the TGIF line-up. The film is full of stock characters that get into stock situations that are easily solved as sappy music plays in the background. Life is stepped in rom-com clichés with Holly romancing a good-looking pediatrician (Josh Lucas) who acts as the third wheel in the relationship. He's the nice, bland guy who gets dumped for the leading man. There's an extremely forced, second act complication that breaks the couple apart just so they can have another idiotic scene where one character rushes to the airport to catch the other before it's too late. The humor is equally inane with scenes of Heigl getting poop on her face and watching The Wiggles while stoned.

Life as We Know It is overly sentimental drivel, but it's harmless, sentimental drivel and that's the nicest, backhanded compliment I can pay it.

Rating: * (*****)