‘My Sisters Keeper’ a well-acted if uneven tearjerker

‘My Sister’s Keeper’ is a movie as calculated and forced as its main character, a young girl genetically conceived to provide spare organs for her cancer stricken sister. It knows who will watch it: Teenage girls, their mothers, and women looking for a weepy film in the vein of ‘A Walk to Remember’ or ‘The Notebook’. These women should be mostly pleased, although the film in its last half alternates randomly between weepy family drama and a courtroom battle.

Anna is an 11-year old girl, who as already said, was conceived to provide spare organs and blood for her older sister Kate, who suffers from acute leukemia. She becomes sick of always being the donor child and sues her parents for the rights to her own body. Her parents, however, think there is an ulterior motive. Meanwhile, Kate falls in love with a fellow cancer patient, Taylor.

Many, many plot points are forgotten as the film progresses. In one moment, Cameron Diaz shaves her head, to make her sick child laugh and feel better. When the scene is over, her hair is back to normal. Also within the courtroom, Diaz seems furious at Anna, disgusted at the very idea that she would sue her own mother. Out of the courtroom, they all blow bubbles and laugh and play. Inconsistencies among characters are the film’s biggest problem.

When it comes to performances, ‘My Sisters Keeper’ delivers. Abigail Breslin fleshes out her character to the extent that she displays a wise side, in wanting control over her decisions and taking that desire to court, and a youthful side when asking about boys, when playing with her sister. Cameron Diaz plays way against type as the mother of Anna and Kate, and is pretty good. She portrays a mother unwilling to let go of her daughters, and Diaz formally breaks out of the ‘Cute Girl’ role that she’s been typecast as, all these years. Sofia Vassilieva as Kate, the girl with the leukemia is the breakout star of the film. She portrays a teenage girl that knows she will die soon, but tries to find love before she does. It’s heart-wrenching stuff.

Obviously the acting is well-done, although as said earlier there are problems with continuity. It aims to tug at your heart-strings and succeeds. ***/****

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