Raising Helen

Well, it's not bad. It's not spectacular either. It uses some pretty heavy material as the foundation of its story, asking you to accept a fair bit in terms of how the characters respond to the deaths in the family. The adults act like adults, grieving when they can, struggling with the loss, but the kids... Well, I'll give the film-makers this: it's notoriously hard to get the intensity of performance out of children that an accurate portrail of loss demands, and when they are caught on film, the results are usually so heavy that it would entirely destroy a "dramatic family comedy" and instead turns it into "the most disturbing 'family' movie ever". Think Radio Flyer for a good example of how this interplay works.

Total: 126