User reviews

Olivia Martin (Lacey Chabert) is a normal 21 year old college girl dating her teaching assistant Joe. He's moving to Italy to study and asks her to join him. She is estranged from her father who divorced her mom Barbara (Wendie Malick), and remarried to Alicia. He and Alicia have bratty daughter Celia (Sammi Hanratty). When her father and Alicia are killed, Olivia is left as Celia's guardian. She reluctantly accepts the responsibility from her father's friend and the executor of the estate Dennis Klein (David Ramsey).

This was shown on ABC Family and has the expected production qualities. The story is very basic. It's very simple and slow at times. The writing is nothing special. The big initial draw is Lacey Chabert. Little Sammi Hanratty is a little girl with big acting and good range. They have a good melodramatic relationship. It's a family movie that isn't too sappy. It could have helped if Olivia has a wacky comedic best friend to add some jokes. Wendie Malick tries to fill that role but the mother can't be the comedic sidekick.

I watched this movie on Netflix, as many made for TV movies are featured in their watch online section. I like Lacey Chabert and the plot sounded interesting.

I felt the pace of the movie was very uneven. It seemed far to slow in places and far to fast in others. The relationships built between the characters that should have blossomed over 6 weeks (the time-line of the story) happened too swift. It was like blocks of weeks were just missing and no background information of those days was given.

At times I couldn't tell when something was taking place. However, the story itself was charming. The idea behind the story, some of the lines, and the actors were nice. I kept striving for more emotional connection from the adults, but I didn't really get it.

It was a great story, and I felt it could have been told better, but it as show that did make me cry at the end, pushing the rating up from below average, and it is interesting enough to pass the time.

A very good script and a briskly maintained pace of direction struggle with some handsome but unfortunately one-note performances. While I do not expect Sammi Hanratty in the role of the seven-year-old Celia to show the range and subtlety of of Shirley McLaine, Lacey Chabert as her older sister seems to spend most of the movie locked in low-key, depressed sarcasm and even old hands like Wendy Malick play their characters -- well, if not monotonously, then at least never straying far from the keyboard note they start out at.

You may argue that this is the way movies, especially TV movies are made these days. Movies are made to accommodate demographics, and the demographics for beautiful, busty young actresses like Ms. Chabert are good enough to compensate the viewer for the fact that she does not have the range that she will, one hopes, develop as she grows. For old geezers like me, there is the eye candy and a story that makes some good points and touches our hearts a little. Am I unreasonable to hope for more?

i Think this movie was very well done and touched many people's hearts. i Think this movie was very well done and touched many people's hearts. i Think this movie was very well done and touched many people's hearts. i Think this movie was very well done and touched many people's hearts. i Think this movie was very well done and touched many people's hearts. i Think this movie was very well done and touched many people's hearts. i Think this movie was very well done and touched many people's hearts. i Think this movie was very well done and touched many people's hearts. i Think this movie was very well done and touched many people's hearts. i Think this movie was very well done and touched many people's hearts. i Think this movie was very well done and touched many people's hearts.

Wow, the only likable character was the lawyer - and just barely that at times. The mother was the same character she played on Just Shoot me, the college girl was an obnoxious, selfish brat, and the little girl was a horrible, petulant little monster to such a degree that I found myself rooting for the selfish college girl to dump her on the grandparents. Plus the turnaround from things-going-badly to things-going-well was abrupt enough to give a viewer whiplash. Similarly themed movies that were better written include but are not limited to: Big Daddy (1999) (yeah, even that was better), Léon: The Professional (1994), Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936), almost any Shirley Temple movie, Let's Sing Again (1936).

This is the story of an immature college student (Lacey Chabert) getting custody of a seven year old girl. There is definitely a Big Daddy or Uptown Girls vibe to this film, however, there is really no comparison in quality. Chabert is okay in her performance, and new comer Sammi Hanratty who plays seven year old Celia is cute but certainly won't be up for an Academy Award any time soon. With typical made for TV movie acting and a storyline that didn't really have much of a flow to it, this movie was disappointingly less than I expected. I would only recommend it to young children or anybody who enjoyed Big Daddy or Uptown Girls and can tolerated a second-rate production of those films.

This is one of the best TV-movies I have ever seen. It was fantastic. Everything about it rocked. The plot line was a great idea. Both the actresses playing Olivia and Celia were excellent together, I would enjoy seeing them in another movie. The whole movie itself was sweet, and I recommend it to everyone. This movie was sweet and interesting, portraying the details of what many families have to endure. The death(s) of loved one(s) are not easy to deal with, nor are the changes in everyday life that you are required to make also. Hello Sister, Goodbye Life is a good example of what can happen as a result of a death in the family, also what can happen when two sisters really care about each other.

This was a very funny and entertaining film about a young girl who is from a divorced family and is very close to her mother in some ways and maybe not in others. The girl was never close to her father and has a very young sister from her mother-in-law. A very serious decision has to be made which can upset the lives of quite a few people. This film points out the fact that life and our lives can change from moment to moment and life is full of surprises, good and bad. You will have to view this film to enjoy the ending or be quite upset the way it all turns out. I forgot to mention the fact that their is a boy friend involved in this situation and the fact that baby sitting can be a big problem when you are young and in love.

The actress that played Olivia was amazing in the hit movie 'Mean Girls', but only so-so in the ABC Family Original movie, 'Hello Sister, Goodbye Life'. Celia seems like she would be a brat and Richy-rich. I also think it was gross that she was dating her professor. That's like illegal! This movie was so corny and I believe it is physically impossible for ABC family to make a GOOD movie! It was OK but it copied 'Uptown Girls' and 'Raising Helen'. How they soon bond is also very corny and I don't think of it as a movie any living human should have to sit through. It wasn't as bad as i thought though. Oh wait, yes it was.

I highly recommend this movie to everyone!! This is a very very good movie and the actors are very great. Lacey Chabert is a very great actress in this movie and Sammi Hanratty does a very good job for this being her first starring part in a feature length film. It is a very good film and its inspirational for anyone with siblings. I don't live with my siblings and after I watched this show I went to see them and they told me I had changed and I was the best brother ever. And what I have to thank is This Movie. I think its very inspiring and everyone should see it!! Next time its on TV. Be sure to watch it you will be happy you did.

You know-it is so rare to see such a well written and well acted show on TV today

This one had both.

Two thumbs up for a fantastic show.

Lacey Chabert does a great job.

Why not make it a series? Would love to see the writers put out more material like this show.

I say go to the comments and post we want a series for this show.

Go Lacey!! !!

Lacey is cool!! !!

Thank you Lacey!!