A LITTLE BIT OF HEAVEN

A LITTLE BIT OF HEAVEN

Kate Hudson's mom is Goldie Hawn and at 67 her mom is still hot!

That has absolutely nothing to do with Hudson's latest film "A Little Bit of Heaven", I was just adding my own editorial comment about how hot Goldie Hawn still is. Or maybe I was just reminding myself that her mother won an Oscar for best actress in 1969 for "Cactus Flower" and was again nominated for best actress ins "Private Benjamin" in 1980. She also received acccolades for her performance in "First Wives Club", "There's a Girl in My Soup", and [amazingly] "The Banger Sisters". But she also stunk up the house in "Overboard", "The Out-of-Towners", "Swing Shift" and "Wildcats".

Kate Hudson, by the same token, has had a few gems of her own including her breakthrough film "Almost Famous", "Nine" and "The Killer Inside Me". But she has had more lemons than lemonade.

Her latest film falls in the latter category. "A Little Bit of Heaven" was actually finished before her previous stinker "Something Borrowed" but was shelved for some reason. After watching it you understand how it might have been misplaced.

Hudson plays Marley Corbett, a young vivacious New Orleans working woman who has no boy friend or husband and seems content to remain that way. But during a doctors visit to find out why she was having abdominal pain and general lassitude, it was discovered she had colon cancer.

This would probably be an earth shattering moment in film history, but unfortunately for Hudson there have been a few films dealing with cancer in young women. "Love Story" set the standard with Ali McGraw. There was "Terms of Endearment" with Debra Winger falling victim to the big "C". Both film's went on to earn several Oscar nominations with "Terms of Endearment" winning Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and so on. In each case, the patient was made believable.

That is not the case here.

Marley begins an inappropriate relationship with her oncologist Dr Goldstein (Gael Garcia Bernal) - whose name became the butt of her joke. She gets full support of her two friends, a gay black guy (what else) played by Romany Malco and her hip cute friend Sarah (Judy Punch). She gets further support from her mother (Kathy Bates) who tries, but can't bail out this feeble story.

As her health deteriorates, she sees her guardian angel as... who else but Whoopi Goldberg.

During her crisis she will attempt to re-connect with her aloof father (Treat Williams) and exonerate her pregnant girlfriend (Rosemarie DeWitt) from avoiding her.

Meanwhile, she looks rather normal and still vivacious even during therapy.

Director Nicole Kassell's idea of showing her poor health was by removing the makeup! THIS is not 2011s "50-50" with Joseph Gordon Levitt in the cancer role.

By the midway point, we are looking at our watches and wondering how much more agony there is. I repeat, this is not "50-50".

"A Little Bit of Heaven" is now a good vehicle for Hudson. It has a weak story, weak direction and mundane performances. It has the good fortune of opening opposite "The Avengers" so nobody will even notice it's there. -- GEOFF BURTON

GEOFF BURTON

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