Hello Sister, Goodbye Life

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).

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 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.

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.

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?