Review: 'My Sister's Keeper'

Adapted from Jodi Picoult's bestselling novel, the high-brow tear-jerker raises some complex medical ethics issues.

from the June 26, 2009 edition

Based on the bestselling 2004 novel by Jodi Picoult, "My Sister's Keeper" stars Cameron Diaz and Jason Patric as the parents of teenage Kate (a touching Sofia Vassilieva), who suffers from leukemia. Kate's 11-year-old sister Anna (Abigail Breslin) was conceived in vitro as Kate's genetic match for the purposes of ongoing organ, blood, and bone marrow replacement. It's a grisly scenario that plays itself out in unexpected ways when Anna hires a lawyer (Alec Baldwin) to prevent her parents from forcing her to donate her kidney. The director is Nick Cassavetes, whose last movie in this vein was "The Notebook." Like that film, "My Sister's Keeper is a high-class weepie for adults who disdain the lower forms of four-hankiedom. Grade: B (Rated PG-13 for mature thematic content, some disturbing images, sensuality, language, and brief teen drinking.)