Cheap Raising Helen (Full Screen Edition) (DVD) (Kate Hudson, John Corbett, Joan Cusack) (Garry Marshall) Price

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Customer Reviews of Raising Helen (Full Screen Edition)

Kate Fails!
Kate Hudson has starred in "How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days" which I liked. "Alex and Emma" which I like. "Le Divorce" which I hated. "Almost Famous" which I loved. Now she stars in "Raising Helen" which is directly in between. It is an only "ok," mainly because the story has been done to death. A week after this movie was released, a tv show called "Summerland" debuted on the WB and I was shocked to find that it has the same exact premise as "Raising Helen." Kate Hudson stars, and she was good as the title character. Joan Cusack was very funny, as usual, in this movie, but everybody else falls short. The young Spencer Breslin, who is a talented young actor, doesn't do as good, and his sister, who plays his sister in the movie, doesn't seem to have a future. "Raising Helen" has slight good acting, and a few funny lines, but it is overlong, and dull in parts. I could have waited for the video, and wouldn't have minded at all.

The movie has Kate Hudson as Helen Harris. Helen has the "perfect" life(how many people start off having the perfect life in movies.) She enjoys a social life where nothing is expected of her and she has a great job in the fashion business as a personal assistant to Dominique. What could go wrong? Alot, actually, and this is proven when her sister Lindsey AND her brother in law are killed in a car crash. No, no, no, that's not all. She has also been in her sisters will as the new legal owner of her three children, something that she thought her pregnant, and already a mother, sister Jenny and her husband Ed would get. The three kids are Audrey, the older one who is in the final stages of being a teenager, Henry, the middle child who is weird in some way, and Sarah, the younger five year old who is supposed to be the comical one to make us all smile. Sadly, that doesn't work. Helen has to leave her home in Manhattan for one in Queens, among other things, causing her life to change completly. She enrolls the kids in a Mormon school, and becomes involved with Pastor Dan, who runs the school. Helen has to decide what is better. Her new life with the children, or her old life where nothing was going wrong.

"Raising Helen" has been done before. Simply as that. There is nothing new, and it tries to blend comedy and drama, but doesn't work at that. The movie was also too long. It was almost two hours, and there was too much stuff going on. The best part had to be Joan Cusack, because she just has the natural ability to be funny. Kate Hudson was alright, but I have seen her in better roles. This role didn't seem suited for her. I could see many different people playing the part, like Reese Witherspoon, and Lisa Kudrow. I would like to see Kate Hudson in a drama, because it would be a different fare for her. "Raising Helen" is more of a rental, but it is entertaining in most parts.

ENJOY!

Rated PG-13 for thematic issues involving teens.

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Lowering Expectations
It seems hard to believe that Garry Marshall - creator of some really fine work (The Flamingo Kid, Pretty Woman, The Princess Diaries, Beaches) and a creative workhorse dating back as far as 'The Danny Thomas Show' - would release something as lazy and formulaic as 'Raising Helen.'

There were stories during the production that Marshall consistently addressed star Kate Hudson as 'Goldie' (we should be so lucky). That's about the level of attention we get here.

I'll give Hudson the benefit of the doubt and assume it's the material that makes her character so unlikable. I figured Felicity Huffman and Joan Cusack could 'raise' "Helen" but Huffman isn't on the screen enough to make an impression and Cusack is handed a role and directed to a performance that makes her look frumpy, unfunny and unpleasant, which is a shame. Check out Richard Linklater's 'School of Rock' - there's a guy who understands how to employ Joan Cusack's comedic skills to maximum effect.

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Leave Helen where she is
Where to start?
If you're a fan of movies that will throw you into depression and leave you pining for that seven dollars you just spent on the movie, then this is the dvd for you.

The movie is about Helen Harris, a gorgeous women with a wonderful job and a ride of a boyfriend. How could it all go so wrong? I'll tell you how: Her sister and her brother-in-law were killed in a car accident and they left their children to Helen, instead of the other sister, an uptight mother personality. Cue millions of highly unrealistic situation, some-not funny jokes, enough morals to write a book about and several cameo apperances by Paris Hilton.

Now, if you're into that sort of thing, then this is your sort of movie. I don't happen to be. And if you're wondering why I gave this two stars instead of one, it's because Joan Cusack is funny. Happy viewing.