MOVIE REVIEW

A jet-setter is thrust into parenthood in Garry Marshall's latest romantic comedy.

By Kevin Crust, Times Staff Writer

The ostensible romantic comedy "Raising Helen" is the umpteenth entry in the ill-suited for parenthood genre tossing Kate Hudson into territory previously trod by the likes of Diane Keaton in "Baby Boom" and Adam Sandler in "Big Daddy."

The movie comes to a similar conclusion that no, at first, you can't have it all, but after you learn some valuable lessons about humility and love, you can. Have it all, that is.

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Having directed "Pretty Woman," "Runaway Bride" and "The Princess Diaries," Garry Marshall is an old hand at spinning contemporary fantasies for women, and although they don't hold up to close scrutiny, these middle-brow comedy-dramas have broad appeal for those who like their laughter accompanied by the occasional tear.

"Raising Helen," Marshall's 13th feature as a director, however, will leave few people laughing or misty as this dry-duct soaper chugs along in the Hollywood netherworld where humor and pathos are in short supply.

Hudson stars as the fast-living, jet-setting assistant to the head of a top modeling agency (Helen Mirren) who finds her life suddenly changed when she is made the guardian of her sister's three children following a car accident that kills the sister (Felicity Huffman) and her husband. Not the obvious choice for the job — that would be Joan Cusack as the other sister, supermom Jenny — Helen is at first stunned but steps up to accept her new responsibilities.

After briefly trying to make a go of it in the New Jersey suburbs, she and the kids — 15-year-old Audrey (Hayden Panettiere), 10-year-old Henry and 5-year-old Sarah (real-life siblings Spencer and Abigail Breslin) — move to the part of Queens that looks an awful lot like the San Fernando Valley. Helen enrolls the kids in a Lutheran school where the principal, nice, handsome Pastor Dan (John Corbett), watches out for them while making goo-goo eyes at their hottie aunt.

Helen experiences the predictable ups-and-downs of raising three grief-stricken kids — OK, they're not all that grief-stricken, but they each have their particular problems dealing with the deaths of their parents, which Helen must recognize and resolve.

Meanwhile, she and Pastor Dan have a wan romance, which the film thankfully doesn't try too hard to sell because Corbett and Hudson have almost zero chemistry.

In a part that should be tailor-made for Hudson — she is equally adept as the materialistic Manhattan party girl and the borough-bound homebody who yearns for something more — something doesn't quite click.

The movie cuts to the chase so quickly there's no real sense of who Helen was before the kids came into her life and it's easy to agree with her when she says she doesn't know who she is without the kids.

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.

Devout followers of Garry Marshall movies will recognize some of his staples, including the requisite Hector Elizondo cameo, complete with toupee gag; numerous Marshall family members in bit parts; and the musical montage the director employs not once but three times as emotional shortcuts.

'Raising Helen'

MPAA rating: PG-13 for thematic issues involving teens

Times guidelines: Underage partying and discussion of repercussions of teenage sex; children dealing with the death of their parents.

Kate Hudson...Helen Harris

John Corbett...Pastor Dan Parker

Joan Cusack...Jenny Portman

Hayden Panettiere...Audrey Davis

Spencer Breslin...Henry Davis

Abigail Breslin...Sarah Davis

Touchstone Pictures and Beacon Pictures present a Mandeville Films/Ashok Amritraj production, released by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. Director Garry Marshall. Producers David Hoberman, Ashok Amritraj. Executive producers Mario Iscovich, Ellen H. Schwartz. Screenplay by Jack Amiel & Michael Begler, story by Patrick J. Clifton & Beth Rigazio. Director of photography Charles Minsky. Editors Bruce Green, Tara Timpone. Costume designer Gary Jones. Music John Debney. Production designer Steven Jordan. Art director Bill Hiney. Set decorator Suzette Sheets. Running time: 1 hour, 59 minutes.