Raising Helen
Buena Vista Pictures | Release Date: May 26, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
38
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
20
Negative:
10
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
VarietyJoe Leydon
An undemanding dramedy. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Hudson's sunny, ringlet-tossing appeal fits snugly into the film's happy-homemaker ideology: She makes caring for three kids she barely knows look downright glamorous. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
As unlikely as it may sound, 2004 is the year when directors Kevin Smith and Garry Marshall have made virtually the same movie...Nevertheless, it's impossible to deny that Raising Helen is a near clone of "Jersey Girl." Read full review
50
SalonCharles Taylor
If a couple who belonged to the Christian Coalition, or your maiden aunt, or George and Laura Bush were looking for a reassuring night out, Raising Helen would fit the bill nicely. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
You can take the director out of television, but sometimes you can't take television out of the director. Although Garry Marshall has been making movies for longer than he spent creating such series as "The Odd Couple," "Happy Days" and "Laverne and Shirley," his work retains the scent of the small screen. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
What Raising Helen doesn't offer is a competent (never mind compelling) performance from Hudson, who is as cute as lace pants and has approximately as much acting skill. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKevin Crust
The agreeable cast led by Hudson and Cusack manage to extract a handful of laughs from the forgettable dialogue, but at nearly two hours, the film goes on far too long. Read full review
50
USA TodayMike Clark
Almost nothing about Raising Helen rings very true, other than the camera's crush on Kate Hudson. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Watching Garry Marshall's Raising Helen is like eating a box of Forrest Gump's chocolates. You may not know exactly what you're going to get, but you can count on a high sugar content. Read full review
50
New York PostJonathan Foreman
Doesn't press all its obvious lessons, and there are actually a few surprises -- and even a couple of moving and interesting moments -- before an all too predictable resolution. Read full review
50
The New York TimesStephen Holden
A soft-hearted, squishy-minded prototype for a network sitcom, is mildly ingratiating but never laugh-out-loud funny. Even Ms. Hudson's intrepid radiance can't camouflage the premise's leaky foundation. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
From beginning to end, we've been there, seen that. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
Far from the worst cookie-cutter film to come off the Hollywood assembly line, merely the latest. Read full review
50
PremiereLaine Ewen
It's really rather dull, lacking in any originality or flair that might draw attention to the cause. It's lightly comedic, lightly dramatic, lightly tragic, and, therefore, lightly entertaining. Read full review
40
Village VoiceJessica Winter
John Corbett shuffles in for yet another tour of duty as the bland requisite love interest. Read full review
40
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
The strange thing about Raising Helen is that nothing out of the ordinary ever really happens. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Raising Helen is the kind of movie you watch on a plane while muttering “utter crap” under your breath -- and then burst into tears. Read full review
40
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
Sitting through Raising Helen is an exercise in frustration, because somewhere inside this big heap of Hollywood nothing is a something (someone, actually) worth saving and savoring. Her name is Joan Cusack. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineAngel Cohn
The kids, especially the Breslin siblings, are cute. Cusack is underused, but makes her annoying, potpourri-loving suburban mom seem sympathetic. And Corbett is well-cast as an eminently suitable, if slightly dull, life mate for the newly grown-up Helen. Read full review
40
EmpireLiz Beardsworth
Top marks to Joan Cusack for her excellent supporting turn; commiserations to John Corbett as one-dimensional objet désir Pastor Dan -- unhappily saddled with the most tragic line to reach mainstream film for years. Read full review
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