Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

My Sister's Keeper (2009)

Director: Nick Cassavetes

2

Critics' rating

Average user rating
4 reviews

Synopsis

A girl (Abigail Breslin) is genetically engineered to be a match for her sister, who suffers from leukemia. But when she grows up, she wants no part of that plan.

Movie review

From Time Out New York

Three of Jodi Picoult’s novels have already been adapted for Lifetime; Nick Cassavetes is best known for The Notebook. So naked bathos-mongering is what people will come to My Sister’s Keeper for, and the film mostly delivers. After Kate (Vassilieva) was diagnosed with leukemia as a child, her parents engineered Anna (Breslin) in vitro to be her perfect genetic match for surplus bone marrow, kidneys, etc. Now the younger kid wants out, and she’s willing to sue for “medical emancipation.” The family rips down the middle, with Anna and Dad (Jason Patric) on one side and the insanely devoted mom, Sara (Diaz), on the other decrying Anna’s “selfishness.”

Picoult’s fashioned herself as a conversation-starter about genetics and medical ethics, but her lurid scenario is basically nonsense. Cassavetes has unexpectedly toned down the over-the-top series of twists from the novel’s last third, though restraint is still a relative concept. The tearjerking is mostly along the sister-sister and mother-daughter axes, aside from a 15-minute romance Kate has with a fellow patient. (Notebook fans should love the immortal line “If I didn’t have cancer, I’d never have met you.”) Diaz is a whiny nonfactor, but typically sharp supporting work from Alec Baldwin and Joan Cusack make the proceedings tolerable for long-suffering boyfriends.

Author: Vadim Rizov 2009-06-23 18:44:27

Time Out New York Issue 717: June 25 - July 1, 2009

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

User reviews of this film

  • venkat said...
    Posted on Aug 13 2009 08:54 I have not read the book but the movie is gr8 and must watch one !
    Report as inappropriate
  • Carol said...
    Posted on Jul 24 2009 05:00 I was disappointed the movie did not reflect the novel. The novel has a completely different ending, which is much better. I would recommed reading the novel and not watching the movie.
    Report as inappropriate
  • fatima said...
    Posted on Jul 15 2009 17:39 a great movie:D
    Report as inappropriate
  • charlie_olsky said...
    Posted on Jun 25 2009 07:06 most touching movie of the year
    Report as inappropriate
4 comments

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


My Sister's Keeper

Cast & crew

Director: Nick Cassavetes

Cast: Abigail Breslin, Cameron Diaz, Jason Patric, Alec Baldwin, Sofia Vassilieva, Heather Wahlquist, Joan Cusack, Emily Deschanel full cast

Genre(s): Drama

Rated: PG-13

Duration: 106 mins

US Release: Jun 26 2009


Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.