Raising Helen | | Cast : | Kate Hudson, John Corbett, Joan Cusack | | Director : | Garry Marshall | | Studio : | Buena Vista Home Vid | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | May 28, 2004 | | DVD Released Date : | October 12, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 28, 2005 | | Summary | Better than I expected | Content
 | A tip: watch Raising Helen the first time by yourself. I bawled at several points during this movie and that surprised me because I usually don't do that. I like how Kate Hudson's Helen grows up during the movie, at first she is career-oriented and likes to party, but she ends up settled at the end. The two younger kids in this movie are adorable and the oldest would cause any parent anxiety. Joan Cusack and John Corbett turn in awesome performances as well, Joan with her trademark subtle humor and John as the sexy pastor of the kids school. One of the funniest parts is the Inter-Faith hockey league (whoever came up with the names was very clever) and Helen's neighbor in Queens (and her baseball bat). All of the characters are well-written and the story really is touching, I felt a connection to all of the characters. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 04, 2005 | | Summary | The movie was good. | Content
| The plot was good, I really enjoyed the sister relationship that Kate and Joan had. They really played well off each other. I think that the movie had wonderful way about it. It flowed nice, and reminded you that you have to choose what you want in life, and move for it. Sometimes it isn't what you always think you want.
I am not a huge Kate fan. She acts the same in every movie. I guess I am looking for a change in her. But the kids were great actors, and I thought it was well told. This is a good movie. You'll enjoy it. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 03, 2005 | | Summary | Was It Really Only 119 Minutes Long? | Content
| Seemed more like 299 minutes. Although at times pleasant and enjoyable, "Raising Helen" could benefit from some serious trimming. It could also have benefited from better audio and a little more setting up before the car accident-the reasons for the deceased sister's decision to appoint Helen (who was a younger version of herself) as her children's guardian is one of the three cool things about this movie and should have been set up better.
The second cool thing is the scene where the three children are sitting together in the closet after the funeral. And the coolest thing is the first shoelace tying scene with little Abigail Breslin. That scene was done perfectly and will probably be the only thing I will think of whenever "Raising Helen" is mentioned. Abigail can do "serious" better than any actor/actress her age. Her brother, Spencer, was fine but once the director had cast him they should have rewritten his part and replaced all jock references; he looks a lot more nerd than athlete.
I never even knew that Kate Hudson existed before seeing this movie; I probably have had confused her with Katie Holmes or Elisha Cuthbert with a personality. Nothing I saw here will cause me to either seek out or to avoid her movies in the future. Since this is how I feel about Holmes I will probably continue to confuse them.
Helen's romance gives the movie one story too many. It is borderline moronic and beyond salvage, leaving every frame of it on the cutting room floor would have improved the movie.
My guess is the real target audience is teenage girls, who can relate to Helen's nightclub adventures and Audrey's coming of age stuff. Hayden Panettiere has grown up very nicely and is well cast as every parent's nightmare "too hot for her own good" teenage daughter.
The obvious comparison for "Raising Helen" is "Uptown Girls", to which it finishes a poor second. In large part this is because of the script rather than the direction. But since the director is responsible for casting some of the blame belongs there. The lead character in both movies has a lot of young Lucille Ball qualities; making Brittany Murphy a perfect choice and Hudson a very poor substitute. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 03, 2005 | | Summary | The best movie | Content
| Raising Helen is my favorite move ever. It's about a single woman who inherits her sisters children and her struggles. I love this movie and I watch it every time i'm in the mood for a real tearjerker with a happy ending. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 15, 2005 | | Summary | You must be joking... | Content
| Anyone who enjoyed this film, obviously has no sense of reality when it comes to film making, or story writing... For my friends and I, there was no attachment to the characters, no emotion drawn, no remorse or excitement for them- Overall, the movie was shut off 5/8 of the way through to save Kate Hudson the last bit of dignity. In my opinion, since her debut, her rolls have gotten worse and worse...and though she has a cute personality on screen, I had no attachment to her whatsoever in Raising Helen. I would save every cent I had if I were you, this was by far, the worst movie I have ever seen. If you want to enjoy real intelligent film, and drama, I highly reccomend you log onto netflix and start renting Ingmar Bergman movies. Now those are films that will provoke emotion and imagination! |
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