Um Presente para Helen

New Yorkers that happen not to live in the island of Manhattan are seen as "Bridge and tunnel", a derisive term used by residents of the island to indicate their superiority to their less sophisticated, or perhaps less affluent neighbors. Never mind that most Manhattanites are transplants from other places themselves!

Imagine Helen Harris' reaction when she is given custody of her three nephews and has to give up her Village apartment because it's too small and has to relocate to Astoria! Garry Marshall, a director with a lot of films under him, is at the helm of this comedy that follows the adventures of a woman trying to cope with what destiny had in store for her, even though she never set out to be in the position she has to face. The screen play is by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler, two men that has dealt in cuteness in previous works.

Helen, who works for a modeling agency in Manhattan, finds herself in a predicament when her sister Lindsay and her husband die tragically. She has been picked to raise two girls and a boy and she is ill prepared to deal with the situation. Instead of naming the more domestic sister, Jenny, as the guardian, Lindsay knew something that the other two siblings didn't know in trusting her three children to Helen.

"Raising Helen" deals with the trials and tribulations of Helen as she comes to terms with her new situation. She must give up her fabulous job, with all its perks, and seek employment in a "previously owned" car lot where she is able to prove her worth. At the same time, she has to deal with her new family in ways she didn't expect. She also finds a good man in the Lutheran pastor who falls in love with her from the moment she enrolls the kids in his school.

Kate Hudson is a beautiful woman with an angelic face that keeps the viewer recalling her mother, Goldie Hawn. She is as good a comedienne, as her mother was in her prime. The best thing in the film, or in any other film where she is cast, is Joan Cusack. She steals the film with her Jenny, a well meaning person who feels bypassed for a role she was meant to play all along. Ms. Cusack is a treasure in this movie. John Corbett, is the hunky Lutheran pastor who falls in love with Helen. Helen Mirren and Felicity Huffman has small roles as Helen's boss Dominique and her sister Lindsay.

"Raising Helen" while predictable was targeted for a certain viewer who loves this type of comedy. Under the sure hand of Garry Marshall it makes for a pleasant time at the movies.

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.

Helen Harris (Kate Hudson) is living the high life in New York City and working for a top-modeling agency, when her sister and brother-in-law die in an auto accident. Her good times are over when she gets a letter from her sister's attorney. Helen has been given custody of her sister's three children. Helen has never raised any children, and she thinks her older sister, Jenny (Joan Cusack) is better qualified to raise the children. Helen accepts the custody of the three children, and they move to a new apartment in Queens. Helen loved staying out late and going to nightclubs, but she now has to take care of the children. Helen is forced to change her lifestyle and become a real mom, which in turn gets her fired from her glamorous job. In the end, Helen learns what is really important in life. This is a heartwarming and cute comedy that will make you tear up. It is the type of movie that your girlfriend or wife will drag her mate to see. In other words, it will appeal more to women than men. (Touchstone Pictures, Run time 1:59, Rated PG-13) (6/10)

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.

"Raising Helen" is a formulaic romantic comedy that makes you wonder when Kate Hudson will again find a role that will actually allow her to stretch herself as an actress, fulfilling the promise she made half a decade ago in "Almost Famous." Since then it's been mostly downhill for Hudson, and the ironically titled "Raising Helen" does nothing to help arrest or reverse that slide.

Hudson plays Helen Harris, a young woman whose budding career in the fashion industry is suddenly cut short when her sister and brother-in-law are killed in a car accident, leaving Helen to raise their three children. Things go from bad to worse, as the once carefree Helen struggles with the trials and tribulations and life-changing vicissitudes of unplanned motherhood.

This is a typical Garry Marshall film in that, even when it tries to deal with "real world" issues such as death, loss, grief, sibling rivalry, teenage angst etc., it does so in only the most superficial, glossy and unconvincing of terms. Heck, there's even a hunky, hockey-playing Lutheran minister on hand - the kind one can only find in movies - to provide spiritual as well as romantic comfort for those times when the going gets to be just a bit too tough for the harried guardian.

The performances are uniformly uninteresting, but I choose to blame the shallow writing rather than the actors in this case. It's particularly painful to see actresses of the caliber of Felicity Huffman and Joan Cusack cast adrift in this sea of "chick flick" platitudes and feel-good movie clichés - but everyone in this film suffers a similar fate.