Raising Helen
Published 2024-04-14
Film info
- Title Raising Helen
- Director Garry Marshall
- Year 2004
- Run time 1hr 59m
- Genres Drama, Romance, Comedy
- Tagline Her uptown life gets turned inside out!
- Cast Kate Hudson, Joan Cusack, Hayden Panettiere, Abigail Breslin, Helen Mirren, Héctor Elizondo
After the sudden death of her sister, a high-flying career woman who loves to party becomes the guardian of her three children, and has to make some tough decisions. Realising that she is unable to reconcile her new commitments with her work and social life, she quits her job and devotes all her energies to bringing up the kids.
Live blog
| Time | Comment |
|---|---|
| 3:14 | Tinka is a weird name. |
| 6:11 | This is the epitome of work hard, play hard. |
| 7:29 | Oh my, baby Abigail Breslin is so adorable. |
| 11:45 | I swear karaoke is only fun for the singers and not the audience. |
| 19:36 | "She's got kids, she's got the mom haircut, she's supermom." |
| 26:12 | I don't know anything about parenting but you shouldn't have conversations like that right next to the kids. They hear everything. |
| 30:20 | "Don't chew on the windowsills." |
| 41:51 | Turns out you can't have it all. |
| 51:40 | He's pretty insensitive for a pastor. |
| 56:44 | Handy to have a neighbour with a baseball bat. |
| 59:21 | YES Hector. |
| 1:12:16 | I want a behind the scenes tour of the zoo! |
| 1:15:04 | "She gets a ham." |
| 1:27:38 | Everyone is so good at basketball. |
| 1:38:05 | This seems like an over-reaction to me, she was doing a great job. |
| 1:50:29 | "It's not over until the fat lady swings." |
Thoughts
After seeing tiny Hayden Panettiere in Remember the Titans, I looked through her film credits and spotted this one that appears to be a Garry Marshall that slipped through our net. Considering the subject matter is taking care of kids which isn't an area I'm particularly interested in, it's a very entertaining movie, a heck of a journey and quite moving in places.
I really did think the bit where she just gives up was overblown, because there is nowhere that the sister said 'you have to do this all alone and not get any help for areas you aren't as strong at'. Why shouldn't she ask the stronger sister to come and shout when needed? Everyone has their skills - it takes a village, right?
It's not a film that will be added to my rewatchable list, but I'm glad to have watched it and ticked it off the list.
Rating: 3 / 5