By Meredith Kerrigan (October 19, 2004)

Helen Harris, (Kate Hudson), works at a modeling agency. She lives the life of a stress-free, happy-going independent woman, up until a vital incident occurs, which flip- flops her life. Harris had everything going for her, but now she has to raise her sister’s children, Audrey (Hayden Panettiere), Sarah (Abigail Breslin) and Henry (Spencer Breslin). They find an apartment in Queens, New York, after Helen has lost her job at the agency, and a Lutheran school to attend to where she meets Pastor Dan Parker (John Corbett). Pastor Dan begins to have a "crush" on Helen, and asks her many times to date, but Helen refuses, until finally she feels bad and needs someone to talk to and decides to "go out." Audrey, 15 and in the mix of school, makes poor choices in guys. It ends up with Helen’s older sister Jenny (Joan Cusack.), "the mommy," helping out in these bad situations.

"Raising Helen" is a defiant, cute chick flick and a have-to-see movie. The acting was good, but not the best, but it did make me feel like in some way I could connect with the characters. It shows how Helen was a selfish person and then changed after living with children to serve their needs. She became more caring and began to appreciate everything much more.

I would rate this movie an eight on a one-to-ten scale because the movie didn’t blow me away with any Oscar quality, but it was definitely a cute movie that I truly enjoyed.