Ray Liotta a typical ad man from the Eisenhower 50s has just lost his wife and his daughter Tina Majorino her mother. He's needing a housekeeper and babysitter very badly. He starts interviewing a variety of candidates not all of them women. But Whoopi Goldberg playing the title role sort of ingratiates herself with both father and daughter.

Soon enough there's an attraction between the two of them, but this is not 2019 it is the 50s and before the Civil Rights Act. They get a lot of fisheyed stares and a racial crack or two. And that is both of them as Goldberg's own family says to stick to her own kind.

Whoopi's scenes with Tina are really special they're what drive the film. It also makes it a family film in every sense of the word.

Two movie oldtimers, K.T. Stevens and Don Ameche make their farewell appearances. Ameche has only a few scenes and you can see how the ravages of cancer are killing him slowly. A lot like Edward G. Robinson and Soylent Green.

There's also a nice performance by Erica Yohn as Liotta's mom and what a Yiddishe Mama she is. Ameche is his father.

This is a wonderful film and with interracial couples far more accepted now it's a look back on some brave people.

Molly Singer (Tina Majorino) lost the will to speak after the death of her mother. Her father Manny (Ray Liotta) is helpless. He hires sassy nanny Corrina Washington (Whoopi Goldberg). She's educated and aspires to write for magazines. The interview doesn't go well but Molly seems to interact with her. Molly slowly opens up to Corrina. Manny is an atheist and so was his wife. Corrina comforts Molly by telling her that her mom is in heaven. His co-workers set him with Jenny Davis (Wendy Crewson) with her own two boys. Molly is being bullied at school and she doesn't want to go to school. It's the last 50s. Manny and Corrina develop a relationship and many people aren't happy about it.

I do have a problem with Liotta and Goldberg pairing. Goldberg has never been the romantic type and I don't see her with any sexual chemistry. That makes the relationship problematic for a mainstream movie. There seems to be a few other general problems in this movie. Writer/director Jessie Nelson sets up a lot of stuff but they all seem to be left unresolved. She sets up the religious angle and nothing really happens. There is the racial angle but it never heats up to a point of danger. That doesn't accentuate the drama. It's almost as if the movie is more scared of the material than the audience. Tina Majorino is adorable. She keeps the heart in this story. This could have been a much better movie.

"We are not interested in publishing articles by unknown black women, no matter how talented they are." It's 1959, and Whoopi Goldberg's Corrina is a college graduate who still can't find a job outside of being someone's maid or cleaning woman. She gets a job working as the housekeeper and nanny for widower Ray Liotta whose daughter, Molly (Tina Majorino) has not spoken since her mother died. Corrina has a special way of dealing with her that eventually opens her up, and after that, she can't stop talking. She becomes very close with Goldberg and her family, and the grief stricken Liotta also begins to come back to life thanks to Goldberg's influence on their life. But this is no fantasia on race relations during a very trying time in America, and as much as she feels like an important member of Liotta's household, there are always reminders for her whether it be her own family or people in Liotta's social circle.

This has a really good screenplay that expresses some necessary ideals that are still being discussed over 60 years later. Goldberg is an independent-minded woman who has her own ideals, and she's tired of listening to the other women in her family try to match her up with available single black men or their feelings on her close relationship with her boss and his daughter. It's obviously a variety of prejudices from all angles that have to make the leading characters look into their own individuality to see what's right.

While mainly a drama, there are several scenes that are comical and funny, particularly the presence of Patrika Darbo as a bubbly yet impatient car hop waitress (whom Goldberg helps relax by having her sit in the back while dealing with mute Molly),Joan Cusack as the first nanny he hires who makes an unwanted pass at him and Wendy Crewson as a rather forceful admirer of Liotta's who is passive/aggressively racist and acts like one of the white women out of "The Help". Veteran actor Don Ameche is practically silent as Liotta's father, while Erica Yohn is commanding as his interfering mother. Another veteran actress, K. T. Stevens, has a bit role as one of Goldberg's many employers.

There's a scene where Molly refers to one of her young black friends with a racial slur, and is promptly admonished for her mistake. This scene involves children and shows how vulnerable and impressionable they can be, and it's a good lesson given to a white child from a black child as to how words can hurt. Another interesting aspect is the fact that Goldberg's character, a Christian, is admonished by Liotta for expressing her religious views, since Liotta and his late wife were atheists.

As Goldberg and Liotta get closer, their friendship seems to be moving into a romantic stage and you have to wonder how realistic that is for 1959. But as played by the two actors, you can't help but like their characters and at least want them to have some sort of understanding and friendship, and for young Molly to find happiness as well especially since she can't stand Jenny, played by Wendy Crewson. This is a sweet, thoughtful drama that while it has aspects that may not seem true to the period still brings you into it and makes you care about what happens.