Friday
26Jun2009
Movie Review - 'My Sister's Keeper'
Friday, June 26, 2009 at 12:02AM | My Sister's Keeper
Starring Abigail Breslin, Cameron Diaz, and Sofia Vassilieva  |
All movies are manipulative, or at least they try to be. If you're not moved one way or the other, preferably the way the movie wants you to move, then it hasn't really done its job.
But you hear that phrase a lot, "That movie was so manipulative," usually in reference to a tearjerker. That's understandable since it takes more to make the majority of us cry than it does to make us laugh. The emphasized "so" is the key word because the manipulation required is that much greater to get us to tears.
My Sister's Keeper is so manipulative, because it deals graphically and emotionally with a teenager's lifelong struggle with cancer and the way it impacts her family generally but her younger sister specifically. Based on the Jodi Picoult novel, My Sister's Keeper raises some very interesting legal and ethical questions and is exceptionally well-acted. Its major flaw is in the way director Nick Cassevetes (The Notebook) puts the pieces together.
Kate Fitzgerald (Sofia Vassilieva, in an undeniable star-making turn) was diagnosed with leukemia while still a little girl. She'll need blood, bone marrow, and probably organs to stay alive. Her parents may not be exact matches, they learn, so Sara and Brian (Cameron Diaz and Jason Patric) explore another option: Genetically engineering a child to ensure a positive, 100% match for all of Kate's future health needs.
Anna (Abigail Breslin) is four years younger than Kate, a product of in vitro fertilization. Cynically, the bright-eyed, intelligent, and emotional girl is a junkyard. She has given her sister so much and has gone under the needle so very often. But now, Anna wants to live her life, not Kate's.
Colin Boyd | Permalink | in Adaptations, Cameron Diaz, Reviews | Print Article | Email Article | 9 Comments | Share Article
Reader Comments (9)
It certainly was a beautiful film I cried numerous times.... which isnt very shocking for me, but the performances of the young girls by Soffia and Abigail are just gut wrenching...
For the longest time in film I was trying to figure out Abigail's reason/motivation for why not wanting to help her sister to live life b/c even though she would be vulnerable with 1 kidney they both would live... and then it was finally revealed b/c Kate Fitzgerald wanted to die... i didnt see that coming for some reason which is not like me so in my opinion they did something right...
Performances were amazing all around and even Alec Baldwin was great
-Cameron Diaz surprised me. She showed some colors and pastels that are not too often shown in her previous work...
-Abigail never ceases to amaze me. I mean this young girl makes each and every performance look so effortless and easy. It doesnt seem like a challenge to her but I also did see her go to some places I didnt anticipate.
-Of course newcomer Soffia was the shining light!
Critiscms
I kinda thought at some points it was just 1 big extra long version of Law & Order: SVU (special victims unit).. that feeling once it came to me at some point after the film just kinda stuck with me....
It was a multipulative film and tear jerker and even kinda a chick flick in some ways... i was in the theatre which was half packed and noticed me, my dad, and brother were the only males there.... beside the occasional 1 or 2 boyfriends dragged along... lol i thought that was kinda funny...
Thats about it, I maybe thought some scenes couldve been cut like the scenes you mentioned above..
The score was just amazing too. Anyone will appreciate the score...
The film was better in general than I thought it would be...
Wow, thanks for ruining the ending Sean.
Yeah, if you're going to throw in a spoiler, which is certainly fine in a comments section, please just notify us by setting it aside with a (SPOILER) warning or something.
Good Movie - I'm just disappointed that the ending didn't follow the book's ending.
I agree with A. I read the book and was severely disappointed that the ending was different. I was shocked and blown away by the books ending, the movie was completely predictable. Everyone else in the theater was crying, I was just bummed.
I agree with A and 'sb'. When I read the book my jaw just dropped open at the ending, and through my tears I had to give much praise to the author for having accomplished such award winning writing. Unfortunately, once again, the predictability of Hollywood comes through and ruins what could have been the film of the year by changing the ending completely. The acting was fabulous and I cried off and on throughout the movie. However, as the end of the movie unraveled, once again, my jaw dropped open, but for the wrong reasons. I was truly disappointed in the ending of the movie.
DOES ANYBODY EVER READ ANYMORE???? Cause if they did this movie would have totally disgusted them!!!! The book took a very difficult subject, explored it and then took a twist that made it believable and a huge wow factor. However, the movie took a very emotional, unfortunately, every day subject, and made into pathetic dribble! The book was so much better I can't even begin to explain! Cameron Diaz did an exceptional job as the mother and the other actors were ok. But the end was pathetic!!!! I wanted to stand up in the theatre and scream "It doesn't end this way!!!" Ugh! I hated it and the sorry way it ended. Read the book and get the real ending. Shame on Jodi Picoult for letting them do this to her story.
I was in the middle of the book when I went to go see the movie so at first I thought the movie was great and pretty much followed the book well but after I read the rest the book because everyone knows movie don't ever put everything in so by the time I was done with the book I was completly disapointed in the movie I don't understand why they changed the entire ending it was way to preditable but the book was a complete shocker I think the movie would be way better the way the book was written but other then tht the movie was good the actors did great it just bummed me out at the end
I agree with all the criticism here re the ending. I find it really hard to believe that the author was happy with what they did to her book. I found that the entire movie deviated massively from the book. Jesse was most certainly NOT like that in the book. What happened to Jesse the Arsonist?! As for that scene with the family eating pizza???? That was one of the most dreadful scenes that I have ever beared witness to in my life. Let it slide that it wasnt in the book...what was the point of it and who were these people?! Why introduce random characters that close to the end, which you then proceed to ruin anyway.
I shared Marian's desire to jump up and shout thats not how its supposed to end! A friend that I went with saw two old ladies dabbing their eyes in the bathroom afterwards and quietly told them how it really ended and walked out happy, leaving them in shock. That was the best moment in the whole ordeal. I will be very slow to watch another movie based on Jodie's books.