It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Blistering performances.

This Film is the best film Ever! If you haven't seen it yet I strongly suggest you watch it, as soon as possible. Kate Hudson Is the best actress, She never fails to impress me on any of her movies and this is just Wow. I love how no matter what character she is playing she can just hook you to the screen and make you just fall in love with her. Her acting in this film is just amazing, impressive and funny. It had me in tears, then laughing hysterically, to oahing and aahing when she fell in love it was just unbelievable. So watch it, If your a Kate Hudson fan or a fan of family comedy's/tear jerker's/heartfelt then you will fall in love with this film and all of the characters!

It's a movie where the best of it is its double meaning title! It's not a bad movie; just an OK. I think big part of its problem (that didn't make it an "excellent" one) is that it didn't want to make comedy while it had all the capacities, it relayed on very easy solutions and recycled stuff (the storyline of the teen girl and the party reminded me of a too similar one, in the too similar movie, Uncle Buck !), and finally it lacked the surprises so much. So according to that the outcome was something between traditional and boring.Being unbelievably predictable isn't the tragedy here, we know the formula, and experienced it dozens of time before. But this movie couldn't make its material creative, its stalemates hard to solve, and its case effective. For instance there wasn't a good deal of problems around the lead. The teen girl forgave her utterly naively at the end. The boyfriend of (Paris Hilton) got an amputated storyline (most probably the movie makers forgot about him later ?!). And that lover priest didn't produce anything; comedy nor romance. His storyline was extremely blank. Obviously the movie doesn't score high, or actually score, when it comes to comedy or romance.The dialog was poor except for couple of lines I liked, however irrelevant to the main story, like "we don't sell used cars, we sell cars that had a previous owner", or "you're not a bad person, but what you did was very bad". I hated using big, real big, names like (Helen Mirren) and (Hector Elizondo) in trivial, rather cameos of roles. And it doesn't need an expert to know well that this is a (Joan Cusack) movie. Although, I'm not a fan of her (sometimes I can't just look at her !), but it takes a nut to not admitting that her character was the hardest, most attractive, one. And she nailed it, being the most memorable factor about this movie as a whole. In any case I prefer another not-a-kids-person-with-kids or from-ignorant-to-parent movies like (The Pacifier), or (Big Momma's House 2) both from the next year 2005; simply – while being average themselves – they did have some things to be watched more than (Raising Helen). Finally, it's kind of indolent movie, that doesn't want to be watchable enough, or know much about the situation it deals with. Yet can be used to spend 100 minutes with lovely cast, totally uncomplicated time, and (Kate Hudson)'s smile & chic clothes if you don't have any useful things to do!

I will tell you a nice movie, "Raising Helen".Helen Harris, played by Kate Hudson, works at a model agency in New York as a competent agent and enjoys her single life. One day, her sister's couple die because of a traffic accident and Helen takes care of her sister's children, Audrey who is 15 years old, Henry who is 10 years old and Sarah who is 5 years old. She is confused first, but she is active about the compatibility of work with child raising. However, her new life with Audrey, Henry and Sarah meets with a setback...It is a romantic comedy and very heart-warming movie. The plot is very good, especially ending and Kate Hudson does nice act. I liked her pretty actions more and more after I watched this movie. Moreover, the soundtrack is appropriate for the mood. I like the soundtrack that Helen walking the street in New York best.

What a refreshing film. I like the plot and acting so well, I purchased this movie. I believe Kate has her mother's acting abilities, and as usual, Joan Cusack is adorably funny when she tells her niece's boyfriend, B.J., that "If he even looks her way again, she will bury his ass so deep into the Earth's core that it will incinerate his sorry ass!" Good plot, good supporting actors, and finally, a film the whole family can watch. I think that the decision of her deceased sister leaving the kids to a somewhat care-free sister was a good twist. You get to see Kate's character grow up and face responsibilities. I would recommend this film to anyone who has a child who's lost a loved one to show him/her that life can and does go on with happy endings.