There is no doubting Kate Hudson's arresting smile, but she is just another pretty woman in the anaemic comic drama Raising Helen.
Veteran director Garry Marshall has made several hit films, including two with Julia Roberts -- Pretty Woman and Runaway Bride, though Roberts works her smile to better advantage than Hudson. Also, the script in those movies had some sparkle and tension.
In Raising Helen, there is hardly any inspired comedy or melodrama. It is good for a few chuckles, a few tears and is immensely forgettable.
Yet, despite its severe weaknesses, the movie could have a decent run because it is inoffensive, has no violence or sex, and though it may look too cute and hollow to most critics, women and girls in their teens could react to it positively.
Helen Harris (Hudson), an assistant to the owner of a posh modelling agency, is on her way to becoming a talent agent. But when one of her sisters and her husband die in a car crash, her career plans go awry. She is least prepared to inherit their three children.
Helen's other sister, Jenny (Joan Cusack), a supermom who is expecting her third kid, is not convinced that her kid sister will be responsible for the three orphans.
But the kids are more optimistic and they are willing to be raised by their young aunt. Meanwhile, Audrey (Hayden Panettiere), the teen who sees Helen more as a friend, persuades her to move the family from suburban New Jersey to New York.
Helen, of course, cannot find an affordable family-size apartment in Manhattan, and gingerly decides to find a home in the outer borough of Queens. There, a Lutheran minister (John Corbett), who is the principal of a school, lets her three wards join his school. But it isn't an uncomplicated fairytale. The reverend has hots for the young foster mother.
Helen has to work harder now on handling the various people in her life, including the younger kids (played by real-life siblings Spencer Breslin and Abigail Breslin). And the rebellious teenager.
While the film has a lot of potential for an insightful domestic drama, it is presented as a one-dimensional sitcom. There is no subtlety or smart humour here. There are several seasoned artistes who turn up briefly, but they are unable to
enhance the film's quality. Among them is Helen Mirren, who plays a child-phobic New Yorker.
But the film does gain quite a bit from Cusack, who does a very good job of conveying her sisterly jealousy. The scenes between Cusack and Hudson also carry conviction, making one wonder if Hudson should compulsorily have stronger co-stars who challenge her to produce better reactions. Other performances are okayish, with Corbett rising above most with his natural and comparatively low key work.
PS: This is the third time Kate Hudson has worked with an Indian filmmaker. She was the lead in the ill-fated Four Feathers directed by Shekhar Kapur, followed by another ill-fated film, Le Divorce, produced by Ismail Merchant. The film was a low key success in America, but was a disaster abroad. Ashok Amritraj is the co-producer on Raising Helen, which trade experts believe will be a modest success.
