''Raising Helen'' is a 2004 American
comedy-drama film directed by
Garry Marshall and written by
Jack Amiel and
Michael Begler. It stars
Kate Hudson,
John Corbett,
Joan Cusack
Joan Mary Cusack ( ; born October 11, 1962) is an American actress and comedian. She received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in the comedy-drama '' Working Girl'' (1988) and the romantic comedy '' In ...
,
Hayden Panettiere, siblings
Spencer and
Abigail Breslin
Abigail Breslin (born April 14, 1996) is an American actress. Following a string of film parts as a young child, she rose to prominence at age 10 after playing Olive Hoover in ''Little Miss Sunshine'' (2006), for which Breslin received a nomin ...
, and
Helen Mirren. It grossed $37,486,512 at the U.S. box office.
Plot
Helen, Jenny, and Lindsay Harris are close sisters living in New York; the eldest Jenny raised the other two after their mother died when they were young. Jenny and Lindsay are responsible stay-at-home mothers while Helen, an executive assistant to the CEO of one of Manhattan's most prestigious modeling agencies, enjoys a lavish, carefree lifestyle.
One morning, Helen receives a call from Jenny who tells her Lindsay and her husband Paul have died in a car accident, leaving behind their three children, 15-year-old Audrey, 10-year-old Henry, and 5-year-old Sarah. At an appointment with Lindsay's attorney, Helen and Jenny are shocked to discover Lindsay has appointed Helen the guardian of the children. Both sisters are given a letter that Lindsay had left for them.
Forced to give up her wild lifestyle and move to Queens, Helen initially struggles to raise the children on her own. As time goes by, her concentration at work begins to slip and she is fired as a result, leading her to become a receptionist at a car dealership. Helen and Jenny get into a fight about how best to raise the children and they stop talking. Things later start to improve for Helen after she begins dating Dan Parker, the children's school principal and pastor, who helps her bond with them.
Audrey starts to fall in with the wrong crowd at school and gets an older boyfriend called BZ. When she disappears after prom, Helen is forced to call Jenny for backup, too scared to take control of the situation on her own in fear that Audrey will hate her if confronted. Audrey is found at a motel with BZ, and Helen later turns the children over to Jenny's custody, much to their dismay.
Helen goes back to work and slowly returns to her previous way of living, but soon realizes she is not happy. She goes to Jenny's to take the children back, adamant she is ready to put her foot down and be a mother, but Jenny asks her to leave and think about it some more. Later that night, as Helen sits alone in the nearby park, Jenny appears and allows Helen to read her letter from Lindsay; in it, Lindsay explains she chose Helen to care for her children because their personalities are so similar and she wanted the children to have a mother figure who reminds them of her.
Finally having accepted Helen can cope, Jenny returns the children to her the following morning, and they happily begin to settle into their new family life.
Cast
Music
The 1980
Devo song "
Whip It" was featured in the film.
Release
The film was shown at the 2004
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...
. It was released theatrically in the United States on May 28, 2004. In US theaters, the film was preceded by an animated short film from
Walt Disney Feature Animation
Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that produces animated feature films and short films for the Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a s ...
titled ''
Lorenzo'', about a cat who gets his tail jinxed and comes to life.
Box office
The film opened at number four on opening weekend, making $10.9 million. In North America, the film made $37,486,512 overall. In foreign countries, it made $12,232,099. The film made $49,718,611 in its entire run, on a $50 million budget, making the film a
box-office bomb
A box-office bomb is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the combined production budget, marketing, and distribution costs exceed the revenue after release has te ...
.
Reception
''Raising Helen'' received mostly negative reviews from critics. On the
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 25% based on 133 reviews, with an average rating of 4.7/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "As shallow and formulaic as a sitcom."
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, which uses a
weighted average, assigned the film a score of 38 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data.
Background
Ed Mintz, who ...
gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.
Home media
The film was released on
DVD and
VHS on October 12, 2004. To date, the film has not been released on
Blu-ray
Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
.
References
External links
*
*
*
The Top Movies, Weekend of May 28, 2004at The Numbers.
{{Garry Marshall
2000s American films
2000s English-language films
2004 films
2004 romantic comedy-drama films
American romantic comedy-drama films
Beacon Pictures films
English-language romantic comedy-drama films
Films about families
Films about fashion in the United States
Films directed by Garry Marshall
Films produced by David Hoberman
Films scored by John Debney
Films set in Manhattan
Films set in Queens, New York
Films shot in Los Angeles
Films shot in New Jersey
Films shot in New York City
Hyde Park Entertainment films
Mandeville Films films
Touchstone Pictures films