Mommy Jenny made me sick. So did that crazy Indian woman who attacked the kids for enjoying a party. Why shouldnt Audrey have sex or fake ID so she could have a drink?

Here is another great Kate Hudson movie! She's darling; I love her smile, her sweetness and cute funniness she puts into her character. No wonder the kids fall totally in love with her and want her to raise them! Also, Pastor Dan was just awesome. Good looking, funny, and he was just perfect in the way he had the right balance of Pastor and gentleman! I loved two parts with him in the movie. One was when he said something about her giving him the Heisman! And, two, when he was telling Kate's character that he was a sexy God-loving man0something to that effect. That was just totally cute and I loved that-And her reaction was perfect to what he said. Just perfect I. I don't want to give away anymore, tho. I highly recommend this film. It's funny and beautiful.

I haven't seen a Kate Hudson movie in a while so I decided to give 'Raising Helen' a chance. I wasn't expecting much as it pretty much seems like a story that has already been told over and over again. And, that is what 'Raising Helen' is. I was pleasantly surprised to see many other talented actresses like Felicity Huffman, Helen Mirren (both these great actresses are grossly wasted) and Joan Cusack (a sheer delight). Sakina Jaffrey plays the funny Indian neighbour quite well. John Corbett plays the male 'lead' but he doesn't have much to do. The child actors are okay (and sometimes annoying, especially the teenager). Kate Hudson does well but I am quite tired of seeing her in the same type of movies. Since an excellent breakthrough performance in 'Almost Famous', she's mostly done these romantic comedy drama type films that seem to belong to the same factory (with the exception of 'Skeleton Key', an awful horror movie). In spite of the done to death formula of the storyline, 'Raising Helen' does have its bright moments especially those between Cusack and Hudson. Clearly, this movie was built for a target audience and while I'm not exactly among that particular target, those who watch it knowing what to expect, might enjoy it. As for me, it wasn't a bad experience as I was multitasking while watching and I managed to enjoy the best moments.

I think the movie makes the mistake that its more cheerful and happy, instead of being dramatic. The core of the movie is its drama but this just doesn't work out fully due to the fact that everything around it is too cheerful and made in a comedy kind of style. The movie even finds room to put in a love-story, which is just a bit too much I'm afraid. The movie should had focused some more on the mourning and real problems, if the movie wanted to make a real lasting and effective impression. Instead now the problems in the movie are too trivial and don't seem significant enough, when considering 3 young children lost their parents and they're being raised by her aunt who definitely is an inexperienced one, as a 'parent'. You can say that the movie is too 'Hollywood' and therefor also becomes formulaic, standard and rather predictable.The movie is definitely well made for a 'comedy' and it has some great characters in it, that help to make the movie. There is a good balance of characters that are funny (although perhaps a bit too over-the-top) and characters that are serious. It's the thing that keeps the movie going and make it a pleasant one to watch.It's not like the story is really heading anywhere in the movie. Especially the middle of the movie is a sort of a drag, after a good and quite promising first minutes. Seemed like the movie wasn't too sure what direction to head in after that. It falls back to a lot of clichés to eventually of course also end in a clichéd and predictable way. The movie is perhaps also a bit too long. At least more then it really needed to be. Perhaps some side-plots should had been dropped.Amazingly the movie really has a big and superb cast, with actors such as Kate Hudson, Joan Cusack, Helen Mirren, Hector Elizondo and Felicity Huffman in it. But all the more great is the children-cast. Spencer Breslin and Abigail Breslin are two of the great child-actors of our time and in this movie they once more show why. And then there is Hayden Panettiere, who is a strange case. For her age she's great but I have doubts if people in 10 years from now still know who she is. If she wants to continue being taking seriously and show that she's up for the task, she needs to start taking some more serious roles fast, or else she continues being typecast over and over again, until eventually she is considered to be too old by Hollywood. She needs to stop doing these cheerful movies and cheerful roles. Even when her character is supposed to be mad she has something cheerful in her. She has the potential to become a great actress, if she can make the step to more serious and demanding roles NOW.I consider this to be a watchable movie, as long as you can handle most of the Hollywood clichés.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/