Kate Hudson is Helen Harris, an agent at one of New York's top modeling agencies, who finds herself caring for three children after her sister and brother-in-law are killed in a car accident. Helping her cope are her sister (Cusack) and the good-looking pastor and principal at the kids' school, played by John Corbett.
Raising Helen is a harmless film with good intentions but it suffers from a long running time. While the premise is pretty good, Raising Helen probably would have worked better as a sitcom. The story and the characters could have developed better. Instead, the characters seemed kind of empty and there were a bunch of subplots that went nowhere. The movie tries to tackle too much and it doesn't work out very well. Even if the film had just focused on one thing, it still wouldn't have worked since the whole premise affects a lot of aspects of life. Gary Marshall does his best with this character driven dramedy and he gets a few things right. The family scenes are pretty memorable and engaging. They don't feel forced nor are they too sentimental.
The acting was good but not great. Kate Hudson gives a good performance as Helen. It was engaging to watch her on screen and it was hard to hate her character. Joan Cusack steals the film as Jenny. Her performance was pretty good and effective. Hayden Panettiere was okay as Audrey. I can't stand Spencer Breslin at all and he gives a really weak performance. All of his dramatic scenes are pretty bad as well. Sadly, he gets out acted by his sister and her performance wasn't half bad actually. John Corbett was kind of bland, nothing special.
The running time is a long two hours and the film becomes kind of dull after awhile. The reason for this is because there were too many pointless scenes and subplots. The film is also not very funny. It was supposed to be a dramedy but the switches of tone in the film are kind of awkward. The ending was pretty effective and memorable. The movie is really predictable though. Even if you miss half an hour of it, you can still predict what will happen. In the end, Raising Helen has a bunch of nice ideas and intentions that would have worked better in a sitcom. It should make for a decent rental though. Rating 5/10
Raising Helen is a harmless film with good intentions but it suffers from a long running time. While the premise is pretty good, Raising Helen probably would have worked better as a sitcom. The story and the characters could have developed better. Instead, the characters seemed kind of empty and there were a bunch of subplots that went nowhere. The movie tries to tackle too much and it doesn't work out very well. Even if the film had just focused on one thing, it still wouldn't have worked since the whole premise affects a lot of aspects of life. Gary Marshall does his best with this character driven dramedy and he gets a few things right. The family scenes are pretty memorable and engaging. They don't feel forced nor are they too sentimental.
The acting was good but not great. Kate Hudson gives a good performance as Helen. It was engaging to watch her on screen and it was hard to hate her character. Joan Cusack steals the film as Jenny. Her performance was pretty good and effective. Hayden Panettiere was okay as Audrey. I can't stand Spencer Breslin at all and he gives a really weak performance. All of his dramatic scenes are pretty bad as well. Sadly, he gets out acted by his sister and her performance wasn't half bad actually. John Corbett was kind of bland, nothing special.
The running time is a long two hours and the film becomes kind of dull after awhile. The reason for this is because there were too many pointless scenes and subplots. The film is also not very funny. It was supposed to be a dramedy but the switches of tone in the film are kind of awkward. The ending was pretty effective and memorable. The movie is really predictable though. Even if you miss half an hour of it, you can still predict what will happen. In the end, Raising Helen has a bunch of nice ideas and intentions that would have worked better in a sitcom. It should make for a decent rental though. Rating 5/10