Dive into Freeform’s fantasy drama “Siren.” The water’s fine. And so is the attractive mermaid who might kill you.
With the recent success of “Blue Planet II,” AMC’s maritime drama “The Terror,” and the Oscar-winning “The Shape of Water” on the big screen, it’s clear that the idea of what lurks in the unknowable deep still sparks excitement and a little trepidation in us puny humans. Enter Freeform’s “Siren,” which confirms that being afraid, being very afraid might be the smart option.
That’s because the series sails past the rosy Disney interpretation of what a mermaid is and instead hews closer to the homicidal creatures known as sirens in Greek and Roman mythology. These lethal ladies lured sailors to their doom upon the rocks with the strength of their song, and in some cases, killed the men with their bare hands.
In Freeform’s series,...
With the recent success of “Blue Planet II,” AMC’s maritime drama “The Terror,” and the Oscar-winning “The Shape of Water” on the big screen, it’s clear that the idea of what lurks in the unknowable deep still sparks excitement and a little trepidation in us puny humans. Enter Freeform’s “Siren,” which confirms that being afraid, being very afraid might be the smart option.
That’s because the series sails past the rosy Disney interpretation of what a mermaid is and instead hews closer to the homicidal creatures known as sirens in Greek and Roman mythology. These lethal ladies lured sailors to their doom upon the rocks with the strength of their song, and in some cases, killed the men with their bare hands.
In Freeform’s series,...
- 3/29/2018
- by Hanh Nguyen
- Indiewire
Kate Hudson has yet to find a role to match her eye-opening turn in "Almost Famous", which allowed her to play at both ends of the scale, the lowdown and the ephemeral. Since then, she's chosen insistently mainstream films designed to turn her into a romantic-comedy superstar, with less than dazzling results. Playing a party girl-turned-parent in "Raising Helen", she'll find more of an audience -- especially among females -- than with disappointments like "Alex & Emma." While its characters occupy an unconvincing emotional middle ground, "Helen" -- which the Walt Disney Co. sneaked on Mother's Day -- appears destined to climb well above the boxoffice midrange after it opens this month.
The script by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler puts a mild new-millennium update on the motherhood-meets-yuppiedom premise of "Baby Boom". Hudson's Helen Harris is a happily hardworking New Yorker who, as assistant to the owner of a glitzy modeling agency, is on the fast track to becoming an agent. When the elder of her two sisters (Felicity Huffman) dies in a car crash with her husband (Sean O'Bryan), Helen is astounded to learn that their will places their three children in her custody.
Even more surprised is Helen's other sister, Jenny (Joan Cusack), a supermom with her third kid on the way. For Jenny, motherhood is a kind of religion -- believing in wasting no time, she's already disciplining her unborn child when it kicks at inopportune moments. She seems to be waiting for the universe to come to its senses and release her nieces and nephews from Helen's inexpert care.
But the kids are more than willing to give it a shot with their young aunt. Teenage Audrey (Hayden Panettiere), for whom Helen has been a confidante, talks her into moving them from suburban New Jersey to a new life in the big city. Overcoming her disdain for the outer boroughs, Helen gives up her small working-girl pad, along with instant entree to every hotspot in Manhattan, and rents an affordable family-size apartment in -- gasp! -- Queens. Then she miraculously finds a nice Lutheran school with no waiting list and a dreamy principal (John Corbett). Tuition for the three kids is "no problem," but she soon finds that balancing motherhood and a career, not to mention the pastor's attentions, is not so simple.
Helen soothes the dark fears of the two younger kids -- played by real-life sibs Spencer Breslin (one of the only bright spots in "Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat") and Abigail Breslin -- but struggles to play the disciplinarian with rebellious Audrey. Through it all, the conflicts between Helen's two demanding roles play as cute rather than trying. To punctuate the temperate proceedings, director Garry Marshall stages big scenes -- in which Helen lets someone have it or is on the receiving end of another character's outburst -- most of which ring untrue.
Marshall's predilection for romantic fairy tales is much in evidence, though the comedy registers in a lower key than it did in such hits as "Pretty Woman" and "Runaway Bride". The story's emotional fallout is presented with far too much transparency, and Marshall keeps the performances within a narrow range that might be called over-the-top lite: cheery-through-the-tears, with every complication spelled out and quickly resolved.
The likable Hudson is hampered, her character's transition denied oomph, by having to be so reassuring throughout. Her best moments are with Cusack because something messier, in the form of sisterly jealousy and resentment, emerges. It's good to see the always original Cusack in a more substantial role after the scant screen time she received in "School of Rock".
Corbett follows his good-guy turn in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" with another impossibly bland Mr. Right. Helen Mirren, in a silver pageboy and oversize accessories, walks through the brief, obvious part of Helen's tough, child-phobic boss. Hector Elizondo has an uncredited role as an honest car dealer, and Paris Hilton cameos as a wordless variation on her fabulous self. Marshall and DP Charles Minsky make good use of New York locations in the polished production.
RAISING HELEN
Buena Vista Pictures
A Touchstone Pictures/Beacon Pictures presentation
A Mandeville Films/Ashok Amritraj production
Credits: Director: Garry Marshall
Writers: Jack Amiel, Michael Begler
Producers: David Hoberman, Ashok Amritraj
Executive producers: Mario Iscovich, Ellen H. Schwartz
Director of photography: Charles Minsky
Production designer: Steven Jordan
Music: John Debney
Co-producers: Todd Lieberman, Karen Stirgwolt
Costume designer: Gary Jones
Editors: Bruce Green, Tara Timpone
Cast:
Helen Harris: Kate Hudson
Pastor Dan Parker: John Corbett
Jenny Portman: Joan Cusack
Audrey Davis: Hayden Panettiere
Henry Davis: Spencer Breslin
Sarah Davis: Abigail Breslin
Dominique: Helen Mirren
Nilma: Sakina Jaffrey
Ed Portman: Kevin Kilner
Lindsay Davis: Felicity Huffman
Paul Davis: Sean O'Bryan
Running time -- 119 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
The script by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler puts a mild new-millennium update on the motherhood-meets-yuppiedom premise of "Baby Boom". Hudson's Helen Harris is a happily hardworking New Yorker who, as assistant to the owner of a glitzy modeling agency, is on the fast track to becoming an agent. When the elder of her two sisters (Felicity Huffman) dies in a car crash with her husband (Sean O'Bryan), Helen is astounded to learn that their will places their three children in her custody.
Even more surprised is Helen's other sister, Jenny (Joan Cusack), a supermom with her third kid on the way. For Jenny, motherhood is a kind of religion -- believing in wasting no time, she's already disciplining her unborn child when it kicks at inopportune moments. She seems to be waiting for the universe to come to its senses and release her nieces and nephews from Helen's inexpert care.
But the kids are more than willing to give it a shot with their young aunt. Teenage Audrey (Hayden Panettiere), for whom Helen has been a confidante, talks her into moving them from suburban New Jersey to a new life in the big city. Overcoming her disdain for the outer boroughs, Helen gives up her small working-girl pad, along with instant entree to every hotspot in Manhattan, and rents an affordable family-size apartment in -- gasp! -- Queens. Then she miraculously finds a nice Lutheran school with no waiting list and a dreamy principal (John Corbett). Tuition for the three kids is "no problem," but she soon finds that balancing motherhood and a career, not to mention the pastor's attentions, is not so simple.
Helen soothes the dark fears of the two younger kids -- played by real-life sibs Spencer Breslin (one of the only bright spots in "Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat") and Abigail Breslin -- but struggles to play the disciplinarian with rebellious Audrey. Through it all, the conflicts between Helen's two demanding roles play as cute rather than trying. To punctuate the temperate proceedings, director Garry Marshall stages big scenes -- in which Helen lets someone have it or is on the receiving end of another character's outburst -- most of which ring untrue.
Marshall's predilection for romantic fairy tales is much in evidence, though the comedy registers in a lower key than it did in such hits as "Pretty Woman" and "Runaway Bride". The story's emotional fallout is presented with far too much transparency, and Marshall keeps the performances within a narrow range that might be called over-the-top lite: cheery-through-the-tears, with every complication spelled out and quickly resolved.
The likable Hudson is hampered, her character's transition denied oomph, by having to be so reassuring throughout. Her best moments are with Cusack because something messier, in the form of sisterly jealousy and resentment, emerges. It's good to see the always original Cusack in a more substantial role after the scant screen time she received in "School of Rock".
Corbett follows his good-guy turn in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" with another impossibly bland Mr. Right. Helen Mirren, in a silver pageboy and oversize accessories, walks through the brief, obvious part of Helen's tough, child-phobic boss. Hector Elizondo has an uncredited role as an honest car dealer, and Paris Hilton cameos as a wordless variation on her fabulous self. Marshall and DP Charles Minsky make good use of New York locations in the polished production.
RAISING HELEN
Buena Vista Pictures
A Touchstone Pictures/Beacon Pictures presentation
A Mandeville Films/Ashok Amritraj production
Credits: Director: Garry Marshall
Writers: Jack Amiel, Michael Begler
Producers: David Hoberman, Ashok Amritraj
Executive producers: Mario Iscovich, Ellen H. Schwartz
Director of photography: Charles Minsky
Production designer: Steven Jordan
Music: John Debney
Co-producers: Todd Lieberman, Karen Stirgwolt
Costume designer: Gary Jones
Editors: Bruce Green, Tara Timpone
Cast:
Helen Harris: Kate Hudson
Pastor Dan Parker: John Corbett
Jenny Portman: Joan Cusack
Audrey Davis: Hayden Panettiere
Henry Davis: Spencer Breslin
Sarah Davis: Abigail Breslin
Dominique: Helen Mirren
Nilma: Sakina Jaffrey
Ed Portman: Kevin Kilner
Lindsay Davis: Felicity Huffman
Paul Davis: Sean O'Bryan
Running time -- 119 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Kate Hudson has yet to find a role to match her eye-opening turn in "Almost Famous", which allowed her to play at both ends of the scale, the lowdown and the ephemeral. Since then, she's chosen insistently mainstream films designed to turn her into a romantic-comedy superstar, with less than dazzling results. Playing a party girl-turned-parent in "Raising Helen", she'll find more of an audience -- especially among females -- than with disappointments like "Alex & Emma." While its characters occupy an unconvincing emotional middle ground, "Helen" -- which the Walt Disney Co. sneaked on Mother's Day -- appears destined to climb well above the boxoffice midrange after it opens this month.
The script by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler puts a mild new-millennium update on the motherhood-meets-yuppiedom premise of "Baby Boom". Hudson's Helen Harris is a happily hardworking New Yorker who, as assistant to the owner of a glitzy modeling agency, is on the fast track to becoming an agent. When the elder of her two sisters (Felicity Huffman) dies in a car crash with her husband (Sean O'Bryan), Helen is astounded to learn that their will places their three children in her custody.
Even more surprised is Helen's other sister, Jenny (Joan Cusack), a supermom with her third kid on the way. For Jenny, motherhood is a kind of religion -- believing in wasting no time, she's already disciplining her unborn child when it kicks at inopportune moments. She seems to be waiting for the universe to come to its senses and release her nieces and nephews from Helen's inexpert care.
But the kids are more than willing to give it a shot with their young aunt. Teenage Audrey (Hayden Panettiere), for whom Helen has been a confidante, talks her into moving them from suburban New Jersey to a new life in the big city. Overcoming her disdain for the outer boroughs, Helen gives up her small working-girl pad, along with instant entree to every hotspot in Manhattan, and rents an affordable family-size apartment in -- gasp! -- Queens. Then she miraculously finds a nice Lutheran school with no waiting list and a dreamy principal (John Corbett). Tuition for the three kids is "no problem," but she soon finds that balancing motherhood and a career, not to mention the pastor's attentions, is not so simple.
Helen soothes the dark fears of the two younger kids -- played by real-life sibs Spencer Breslin (one of the only bright spots in "Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat") and Abigail Breslin -- but struggles to play the disciplinarian with rebellious Audrey. Through it all, the conflicts between Helen's two demanding roles play as cute rather than trying. To punctuate the temperate proceedings, director Garry Marshall stages big scenes -- in which Helen lets someone have it or is on the receiving end of another character's outburst -- most of which ring untrue.
Marshall's predilection for romantic fairy tales is much in evidence, though the comedy registers in a lower key than it did in such hits as "Pretty Woman" and "Runaway Bride". The story's emotional fallout is presented with far too much transparency, and Marshall keeps the performances within a narrow range that might be called over-the-top lite: cheery-through-the-tears, with every complication spelled out and quickly resolved.
The likable Hudson is hampered, her character's transition denied oomph, by having to be so reassuring throughout. Her best moments are with Cusack because something messier, in the form of sisterly jealousy and resentment, emerges. It's good to see the always original Cusack in a more substantial role after the scant screen time she received in "School of Rock".
Corbett follows his good-guy turn in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" with another impossibly bland Mr. Right. Helen Mirren, in a silver pageboy and oversize accessories, walks through the brief, obvious part of Helen's tough, child-phobic boss. Hector Elizondo has an uncredited role as an honest car dealer, and Paris Hilton cameos as a wordless variation on her fabulous self. Marshall and DP Charles Minsky make good use of New York locations in the polished production.
RAISING HELEN
Buena Vista Pictures
A Touchstone Pictures/Beacon Pictures presentation
A Mandeville Films/Ashok Amritraj production
Credits: Director: Garry Marshall
Writers: Jack Amiel, Michael Begler
Producers: David Hoberman, Ashok Amritraj
Executive producers: Mario Iscovich, Ellen H. Schwartz
Director of photography: Charles Minsky
Production designer: Steven Jordan
Music: John Debney
Co-producers: Todd Lieberman, Karen Stirgwolt
Costume designer: Gary Jones
Editors: Bruce Green, Tara Timpone
Cast:
Helen Harris: Kate Hudson
Pastor Dan Parker: John Corbett
Jenny Portman: Joan Cusack
Audrey Davis: Hayden Panettiere
Henry Davis: Spencer Breslin
Sarah Davis: Abigail Breslin
Dominique: Helen Mirren
Nilma: Sakina Jaffrey
Ed Portman: Kevin Kilner
Lindsay Davis: Felicity Huffman
Paul Davis: Sean O'Bryan
Running time -- 119 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
The script by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler puts a mild new-millennium update on the motherhood-meets-yuppiedom premise of "Baby Boom". Hudson's Helen Harris is a happily hardworking New Yorker who, as assistant to the owner of a glitzy modeling agency, is on the fast track to becoming an agent. When the elder of her two sisters (Felicity Huffman) dies in a car crash with her husband (Sean O'Bryan), Helen is astounded to learn that their will places their three children in her custody.
Even more surprised is Helen's other sister, Jenny (Joan Cusack), a supermom with her third kid on the way. For Jenny, motherhood is a kind of religion -- believing in wasting no time, she's already disciplining her unborn child when it kicks at inopportune moments. She seems to be waiting for the universe to come to its senses and release her nieces and nephews from Helen's inexpert care.
But the kids are more than willing to give it a shot with their young aunt. Teenage Audrey (Hayden Panettiere), for whom Helen has been a confidante, talks her into moving them from suburban New Jersey to a new life in the big city. Overcoming her disdain for the outer boroughs, Helen gives up her small working-girl pad, along with instant entree to every hotspot in Manhattan, and rents an affordable family-size apartment in -- gasp! -- Queens. Then she miraculously finds a nice Lutheran school with no waiting list and a dreamy principal (John Corbett). Tuition for the three kids is "no problem," but she soon finds that balancing motherhood and a career, not to mention the pastor's attentions, is not so simple.
Helen soothes the dark fears of the two younger kids -- played by real-life sibs Spencer Breslin (one of the only bright spots in "Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat") and Abigail Breslin -- but struggles to play the disciplinarian with rebellious Audrey. Through it all, the conflicts between Helen's two demanding roles play as cute rather than trying. To punctuate the temperate proceedings, director Garry Marshall stages big scenes -- in which Helen lets someone have it or is on the receiving end of another character's outburst -- most of which ring untrue.
Marshall's predilection for romantic fairy tales is much in evidence, though the comedy registers in a lower key than it did in such hits as "Pretty Woman" and "Runaway Bride". The story's emotional fallout is presented with far too much transparency, and Marshall keeps the performances within a narrow range that might be called over-the-top lite: cheery-through-the-tears, with every complication spelled out and quickly resolved.
The likable Hudson is hampered, her character's transition denied oomph, by having to be so reassuring throughout. Her best moments are with Cusack because something messier, in the form of sisterly jealousy and resentment, emerges. It's good to see the always original Cusack in a more substantial role after the scant screen time she received in "School of Rock".
Corbett follows his good-guy turn in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" with another impossibly bland Mr. Right. Helen Mirren, in a silver pageboy and oversize accessories, walks through the brief, obvious part of Helen's tough, child-phobic boss. Hector Elizondo has an uncredited role as an honest car dealer, and Paris Hilton cameos as a wordless variation on her fabulous self. Marshall and DP Charles Minsky make good use of New York locations in the polished production.
RAISING HELEN
Buena Vista Pictures
A Touchstone Pictures/Beacon Pictures presentation
A Mandeville Films/Ashok Amritraj production
Credits: Director: Garry Marshall
Writers: Jack Amiel, Michael Begler
Producers: David Hoberman, Ashok Amritraj
Executive producers: Mario Iscovich, Ellen H. Schwartz
Director of photography: Charles Minsky
Production designer: Steven Jordan
Music: John Debney
Co-producers: Todd Lieberman, Karen Stirgwolt
Costume designer: Gary Jones
Editors: Bruce Green, Tara Timpone
Cast:
Helen Harris: Kate Hudson
Pastor Dan Parker: John Corbett
Jenny Portman: Joan Cusack
Audrey Davis: Hayden Panettiere
Henry Davis: Spencer Breslin
Sarah Davis: Abigail Breslin
Dominique: Helen Mirren
Nilma: Sakina Jaffrey
Ed Portman: Kevin Kilner
Lindsay Davis: Felicity Huffman
Paul Davis: Sean O'Bryan
Running time -- 119 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 5/11/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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