Raising Helen

Raising Helen Garry Marshall (Beaches, Pretty Woman) will be directing two movies this summer, so start building that sap shelter in your basement now. Make sure to stock it with lots of Martin Scorsese films and a "Beaches Sucks!" poster. Kate Hudson stars as a jet-setting Manhattan resident who inherits her sister’s three children, causing her to lose her job and, God help her, move to Queens. She starts a relationship with a hunky pastor (John Corbett) and deals with such child-raising horrors as dead turtles and shoe-tying ordeals. Hudson is likable enough, but the material is standard dreck and the kids are dullards. Joan Cusack gets to play a control freak again (surprise!) and Corbett looks embarrassed. (He should be!) This is the sort of junk Goldie Hawn (Hudson’s mother) has been starring in since her career took a downturn in the ’80s. Hudson should take a hiatus and come back in another Cameron Crowe movie, because her record has been very weak since his Almost Famous. But hey, if you’re a big Hector Elizondo fan, this movie is for you!