Helen Harris (Kate Hudson) has her life abruptly shortchanged when her sister and brother-in-law are killed in a car crash, and she has to take on the task of raising the three orphaned children. She goes from being an ambitious career girl and glitzy, vapid, club-hopping Manhattanite to a single mom struggling to manage her family's needs off in Queens. The setup is given the most cursory possible execution, with the deaths dealt with mostly in a grief montage! Despite the rather hollow premise, the story manages to follow through with honest emotion. Plus plenty of sight gags, sitcom-style punchlines, and slick "uplifting" chick-pop music. The heart of the film is provided by the three cute kids, who are, of course, "raising Helen," along with Joan Cusack as Helen's supermommy sister. Good turns are put forth by Helen Mirren (as Hudson's ruthless boss) and Hector Elizondo (as a benevolent car salesman?!). John Corbett is on hand as the impossibly great-guy love interest, which he's good at, although even his charisma can't stifle your laughter when he says things like "I'm a sexy man of God, and I know it." Helen overstacks the deck with complications, necessitating far too much time in the last half to resolve them all. Even so, it's a winning movie with plenty of cuteness to observe. The DVD features many deleted scenes, for each of which Garry Marshall provides on-screen commentary that goes on far longer than the actual scenes.
Review by |