Raising Helen

This is an atrocious piece of formulaic Hollywood cinema that insults the intelligence and sophistication of everyone.

There are no laughs in it whatsoever and nothing believable about the story, characters, etc.

You don't care about the characters at all..no development at all..in fact I still can't remember who actually was supposed to have died after the embarrassing 'Devo dance / bonding scene' that's supposed to endear you to the character who is dead 5 minutes later. I kept asking myself "Who died?"

I got up and left this turkey about an hour into it.

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.

There's a scene early in the movie where Kate convinces a guy to let her friend into a club even though her friend isn't on the "list." Kate leans over, puts her head on the dude's chest, writes the girl's name, and comments, "Now she's on the list." Worked like a charm. Come on, how many guys can resist that? What? Oh, I mean besides any of the male designers on "Trading Spaces." Kate pretty much does the same thing with this movie. She smiled, blinked her eyes at me, giggled a little, put her head on my chest, and convinced me to keep watching.

This isn't a great movie, but Kate's smile and personality are enough to keep it from being a chore to watch. However, if you were to replace Kate with someone like Kirsten Dunst, then I would've been out of the theater in about 15 minutes.

The story isn't really original, and to no one's surprise it's pretty predictable as well. Carefree gal is loving life. Tragedy intervenes and forces her to change lifestyle. Someone (older sister, Joan Cusack) is there to provide conflict. Carefree gal decides she truly CAN handle her new life. Tears are shed, hands are held, hugs are in groups, and "Kumbaya" is figuratively sung. Roll credits.

If you're expecting loads of laugh, then you're likely to be disappointed. This movie focuses more on the dramatic, especially near the end where things just start to get way too sappy for any guy not named Richard Simmons. But there are some cute and funny moments sprinkled throughout, most as a direct result of Kate's charm. However, John Corbett (who plays a Lutheran pastor) has a great line when he tells Kate, "I'm a sexy man of God, and I know it."

Joan Cusack does a pretty good job as well. Kate is the coolest aunt in the world, while Joan is the most motherly. You see, Joan's the aunt who'll kick your butt and make you mad, but she's the kind of person kids need around 'em. She has one of the best scenes in the movie when she shows up at a hotel and totally lays the smack down on a little punk who took her 15-year-old niece (Hayden Panettiere) there during prom. The older women in the movie theater clapped and cheered. Little boys dream about being superheroes, baseball players, and firemen. Little girls dream about being princesses, actresses, and dating Kirk Cameron (well, at least Stephanie did). But this scene is what mothers and aunts dream about.

If you want to see a much better movie dealing with a similar "my lifestyle will completely change because of this tragedy" theme, then I recommend "Jersey Girl." But those of you who are in dire need of some big-screen Kate Hudson should be satisfied as long as you're not looking for a movie to challenge you or have you guffawing in your seat.

THE GIST

"Raising Helen" is truly a chick flick, and it should definitely please its intended female audience. But guys, if you like Kate Hudson, then it's not the worst movie to sit through if you wanna score some points by taking your lady to see this. If you're the type of person who can cry during a long-distance phone commercial then this is movie gold for you.

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.

"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.