Based on the book by
Allison Pearson, the comedy film
I Don’t Know How She Does It
follows the life of Kate Reddy (Sarah Jessica Parker), a working
mother struggling to juggle her marriage, children and high-stress job. The
film also stars
Greg Kinnear
as Kate’s out of work
architect
husband,
Pierce Brosnan
as Kate’s new, flirtatious business associate and
Christina Hendricks
as
Kate’s supportive best friend.
The music of I Don’t Know How She Does It is spread over two
CDs. The musical score of the film was created by
Aaron Zigman
who began his
foray into music by studying piano at the age of six. By the time he was in
college, Zigman had received his first four-year songwriting contract from
Almo Irving. Through pop music - writing, producing and arranging for such greats as
Clive Davis,
Patti LaBelle,
Tina Turner,
Aretha Franklin,
Christina Aguilera
and
Chicago
- Zigman first entered the film music genre, penning songs for
Mulan,
What’s Love Got to Do With It,
The Birdcage,
License to Kill and
Pocahontas. He later moved on to film scoring,
incorporating his classical training in compositions for such films as
The Notebook,
John Q,
My Sister’s Keeper,
The Ugly Truth and more.
The second CD features songs by various artists including
Nat King Cole,
Teena Marie,
Little Jackie,
Bill Withers
and more.
Having listened to both Soundtrack and Musical Score CDs, I can’t
imagine why they needed to release two albums. The I Don’t Know How She Does
It Soundtrack is terrific fun, featuring a lot of fun love songs like
L-O-V-E
by Nat King Cole,
The Shoop, Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss)
by
Betty Everett,
One Warm Coat
by
Jason Damato,
I’m A Sucker for Your Love
by Teena Marie
and
Lovely Day
by Bill Withers. The song
Move to the Beat
by
Little Jackie perfectly describes the life of the main character as she
struggles to maintain her sanity while jiggling a high-powered business position
and her home life with her family. I also love the blues track by
Koko Taylor
entitled
Big Boss Man
and can think of several folks I’d love to dedicate
this song to: “Well you ain’t so bi-ig / You just talk, that’s all.”
The Soundtrack album contains one piece of musical scoring by
Aaron Zigman entitled
Make A Snowman. This can also be found as Track 10
on the musical score album, which features twenty-eight tracks of music created
for the film by Zigman. Most of the tracks are rather short and I can’t say
that I didn’t enjoy every track on the album. I just feel that they could have
taken the longer tracks and incorporated them with the Soundtrack, making
one CD and saving folks some money. There were very few lengthy tracks on the
Musical Score album and it seems a waste to spend about $30.00US
purchasing both albums when they could have been combined in one for a
considerably less cost for the consumer.
My advise is to skip the I Don’t Know How
She Does It Musical Score and go right to the Soundtrack featuring various
artists. The album is a great deal more fun and more bang for your buck.
For feedback, visit
our
message board or e-mail the author at
talonkarrde@g-pop.net.
