Raising Helen

Uneven comedy drama about a fast living fashion designer assistant, Helen Harris (Kate Hudson), and her journey of self discovery. She has two older sisters, the oldest one being Lindsay (Felicity Huffman) and the 2nd oldest being Jenny (Joan Cusack) with Helen being the baby of the 3. Though they all love each other dearly, Helen and Lindsay seem to have the strongest bond while poor Jenny is the odd girl out, even though she raised Helen mostly by herself after their mom died and Lindsay was in New York trying to make it as a dancer. Lindsay and Jenny are both married and have kids, while Helen is not but Lindsay's kids, especially 15 year old Audrey (Hayden Panettiere), think she's the coolest aunt in the world.

Then Lindsay and her husband die in a car accident and guess who Lindsay chose to raise the kids? Helen! Even though Jenny is clearly more qualified thanks to her lifetime of motherhood, Lindsay decided to fork the kids over to Helen who not only smokes but has no idea of how to raise kids. Predictably, this throws Helen's life all out of whack as she is forced to move and find a new job and finds herself in an awkward relationship with the principal of the kids new school, Lutheran man Pastor Dan (John Corbett reprising his nice guy persona from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"). Well, 6 or 7 year old Sarah has trouble grasping the concept of death and 10 year old Henry (Spencer Breslin) is in a depression while the hormonal and rather horny Audrey thinks that having Helen for a guardian means that Helen will indulge all the teen girl desires that her mother would never have allowed her to indulge. Audrey is quite surprised when Helen calls on their aluminum baseball bat wielding Indian neighbor Nilma to get rid of a bunch of hoodlum punks she has made friends with and brought up to Helen's apartment. "What's the matter with you?!" the obnoxious 15 year old screams. "Don't you remember what it's like to be young?!" Helen replies to Audrey's cliché insult "Yeah, it was last Wednesday!" Later on, Audrey almost ruins her life when she ditches a prom she was attending to go off with her hoodlum "DJ" boyfriend to a motel intending to have sex, only to be rescued/thwarted by Aunt Jenny the supermom and Helen. In a scene both funny and dramatic, Jenny uses her pregnant belly as a form of terror and metaphor for teen parenthood against the boyfriend. In the end, Helen finally finds the strength to be a parental figure and all is relatively right with the world.

Kate Hudson is cute and has some comedic ability, but her mother, actress Goldie Hawn, was even cuter and funnier when she was the same age Kate is now and still is. Kate works hard to make you like Helen but this is the kind of character (and scenario) her mother would have pulled off without breaking a sweat. Maybe Kate should give up comedy and focus on becoming a dramatic actress. Either way though, Kate is easily out-acted by co-star Joan Cusack, a tall, gangly woman who's wasp like face can be made to look a lot better or a lot worse; Joan makes you feel more for Jenny than Helen, which is not the right effect I think. John Corbett also overshadows Kate in this film. Helen Mirren makes the most of her role as Helen's ice like boss. I wasn't a big fan of the kids. The worst offender though was Audrey; Hollywood is really starting to scare me with their idolizing teen girls. That and the fact that Audrey, even by growing pain standards, is a bitch to deal with, a 39 year old whore trapped in a 15 year old girl's body. Are 15 year old girls REALLY this horny in real life? And do they really get THIS sucked up with bad boys? I kept waiting for someone to smack her. Personally they should have let her ruin her life by having sex, it would have served her right the bitch. You hang out with trash like this "DJ" as she calls him then you're asking for it.

Garry Marshall has this thing about doing variations on the Cinderella concept. For example, "Pretty Woman" was about a downtrodden woman who got elevated into a better life. Here, he reverses things so that the woman already has it all and learns that the smaller way of life is good too. Too bad it wasn't a better film.

Three sisters, played by two real actresses and one Hollywood daughter. One dies, one is overly stuffy and the third — who inherits the children — has the Devil-in-Prada life. Its the third sister the movie focuses on, but its Joan Cusack that steals this. She's the "unfun" sister.

Joan acts with her face to an extent that with anyone else, Jim Carey for instance, would only be comical. But she makes it real, as if she is a real character with someone inside pulling strings violently. But she shows us on the side that she (the actress) really does have this all under control. We don't have many actresses that can underdo overdoing it and make it work without having the whole project be invented around her.

She's really wonderful. I'm trying to find the film she wrote: "The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez."

As for the movie: brand name fast food.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

I haven't seen a Kate Hudson movie in a while so I decided to give 'Raising Helen' a chance. I wasn't expecting much as it pretty much seems like a story that has already been told over and over again. And, that is what 'Raising Helen' is. I was pleasantly surprised to see many other talented actresses like Felicity Huffman, Helen Mirren (both these great actresses are grossly wasted) and Joan Cusack (a sheer delight). Sakina Jaffrey plays the funny Indian neighbour quite well. John Corbett plays the male 'lead' but he doesn't have much to do. The child actors are okay (and sometimes annoying, especially the teenager). Kate Hudson does well but I am quite tired of seeing her in the same type of movies. Since an excellent breakthrough performance in 'Almost Famous', she's mostly done these romantic comedy drama type films that seem to belong to the same factory (with the exception of 'Skeleton Key', an awful horror movie). In spite of the done to death formula of the storyline, 'Raising Helen' does have its bright moments especially those between Cusack and Hudson. Clearly, this movie was built for a target audience and while I'm not exactly among that particular target, those who watch it knowing what to expect, might enjoy it. As for me, it wasn't a bad experience as I was multitasking while watching and I managed to enjoy the best moments.

This film is about a young woman unexpectedly becoming a mother of three because her sister died in a traffic accident.

I find the script weak and unconvincing. The script tries to examine the difficulty of transition from singlehood to motherhood, family tension, trust and childcare issues. The end result is that the film lack direction and wander around aimlessly. It fails to be funny, romantic or dramatic.

Acting has to be applauded though. Joan Cusack does a good job to convey a spectrum of emotions, especially envy. Hayden Panettiere is also very convincing as a rebellious young girl.

Overall, I find this film boring and lacklustre.

I loved Kate Hudson in Almost Famous, and a few people told me this film was good, so we rented it.

We did enjoy it. It had some very funny moments, and some very tender moments. Kate Hudson was good, but don't expect "Almost Famous" style brilliance out of her in this one. The rest of the cast performs about the same -- good performances, nothing stellar. Except perhaps Joan Cusack; her performance was very good.

If you have kids, say, about ten years old and older this is a good film to watch together with them -- it introduces them to a few teen and adult issues (dating, death, etc.) and shows the sorts of tough decisions that parents sometimes have to make. And you'll have lots of fun laughing together too.