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Raising Helen Directed by Garry Marshall Buena Vista Pictures

Director Garry Marshall has partially redeemed himself to his glory days of “Pretty Woman” with his latest creation “Raising Helen." Helen Harris (Kate Hudson) leads every shallow woman’s fantasy; she has a nice home, a well-paying job and an impeccable wardrobe. As luck would have it, Helen’s dream life soon takes a 180-degree turn when she becomes the sole guardian of three children after her sister’s fatal car accident. She’s then forced to transform from super chic to super mom. Jenny (Joan Cusack), Helen’s other sister and the real Supermom, is especially bewildered by the guardianship decision of her late sister and makes it her personal mission to prove Helen is anything but right for the heavy responsibility. As the film meanders its way through Helen’s adjustments, one cannot help but sympathize with a woman who must give up her career and snazzy Manhattan lifestyle for a run-down apartment in Queens and a job as a used-car dealership receptionist. Then again, the job does pay $17.50 per hour, which could make her the highest-paid person in Queens – or at least at the dealership. Also convenient is Helen’s ability to enroll the children in a Lutheran private school, sans money, religious devotion and most impressively, a waitlist. These conveniences are exactly what make “Raising Helen” only a partial redemption for Marshall. Though the plot is nothing noteworthy, the characters mange to fill distinguishable movie personality types. Cusack particularly shines as the insecure and neurotic housewife who garners the most laughs. She is so on top of her motherly game that she already disciplines her unborn child when it kicks at inappropriate moments. The characters are genuine, and surprisingly, the syrupy moments are handled pretty well, mostly due to Hudson’s reliable knack for making otherwise corny lines believable. She holds up the film with seamless comic timing and dramatic weight. The budding romance between Helen and the school’s principal and pastor, Dan Parker (John Corbett, better known as Aidan from “Sex and the City”), is kept to a satisfactory minimum. Marshall knows how far to take it without turning the situation into something the Lifetime channel would produce. Though “Raising Helen” inevitably will have its critics, it is nevertheless a good heart-warming film that doesn’t succumb to most of the usual clichés expected of its genre.

-Laurie Lo