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Raising Helen is
director Gary Marshall's latest romantic comedy starring Kate Hudson. Hudson
portrays Helen Harris, a busy body, can-handle-anything, yuppie city girl
working as personal assistant to one of New York's top modeling agency
directors. She has the life everyone thinks they wish they had. Her days are
spent changing the face of the modeling world, while her nights are filled
with dining at expensive restaurants and preferred admission to all the
right clubs. She has relationships with the hottest guys and just plain has
it made.
Helen maintains close contact
sisters Lindsay (Felicity Huffman), the fun loving one, and Jenny (Joan
Cusack), the neurotic Martha Stewart wannabe, and their families. Life is
perfect until Lindsay and her husband die in an accident, leaving their
three children, Audrey (Hayden
Panettiere), Henry (Spencer
Breslin), and Sarah (Abigail
Breslin), in Helen's custody.
Hoping a change
would be good for them, Helen moves the children out of the suburbs and into
the city...well Queens anyway. The kids are enrolled in a private Lutheran
school, where Pastor Dan (John Corbett of My Big Fat Greek Wedding
fame) tries to help the kids, and Helen, adjust. The predictable comedy that
ensues revolves around the children's adaptation to the city, the impending
romance between Helen and Pastor Dan, and the incompatibility of Helen's
former life.
Obviously dealing
with a sister and parent's death is not all fun and games. The dramatic plot
points and scenes in the movie are excellent and worthy of screen time. Kate
Hudson proves again to be versatile and lovable in any film. Her screen
chemistry with John Corbett is equally pleasant.
What is unpleasant
are the numerous, over-the-top attempts to make this movie funny. This is
just a poor mix of drama and hilarity. Funny moments come off silly and
immature when compared to the drama of the story. Today's romantic comedy
just can't be blended into a story about the death of three children's
parents. It just doesn't work.
I feel this movie
deserves a lower rating, but the performances redeem it. Joan Cusack plays
the neurotic, flower obsessive perfectly. Spencer and Abigail Breslin are
absolutely perfect, and you should be expecting to see them a lot more
often. Hayden Panettiere also turned in a great performance (you may
remember her as the fiery daughter of Coach Yoast in Remember the Titans).
However, everything
else in this move makes Raising Helen just a pretty average film. |
