No one quite does manipulative pap like director Garry Marshall (The Princess Diaries), and he pours it on again with Raising Helen. The movie concerns a modeling-agency assistant (Kate Hudson) who inherits three young kids when her sister and brother-in-law are killed in a car accident. Marshall saws at your heartstrings early on, then immediately cues the peppy music and sitcom wackiness. Hardly a tinge of sadness lingers.
