Nick Cassevetes directs Abigail Breslin and Cameron Diaz in My Sister’s Keeper, a movie adapted from the novel of the same name by Jodi Picoult. I’ll confess that I didn’t read the book, but maybe that left me free to enjoy some of the surprises.
Anna (Breslin) is a young girl who is expected to undergo a lifesaving operation. The trick is it isn’t to save her live, but instead save the life of her sister Kate (Sofia Vassilieva), who is cancer stricken. The fact of the matter is that Anna’s life has never been her own. She was lab engineered to provide bone marrow, blood, and a kidney to her sister. Anna’s had enough with the help lawyer Campbell Alexander (Alec Baldwin), she’s looking to be medically emancipated from her parents. As one may suspect, this doesn’t sit well with mother Sara (Cameron Diaz).
My biggest gripes are with a combination of decisions that split up the narrative. A very typical way to convey a story is to use chronological order. I’m not saying that it’s necessary in all cases, but in My Sister’s Keeper there are repeated attempts to use flashbacks without any hint as to the usage of such device. In fact, the first half is frequented by this technique. It isn’t until later that anything comes of it, in the reveal of a twist. Still, I think some flashbacks in key moments could have allowed the rest of the film to build the drama. Heck, there was one flashback that was so long I forgot what provoked it; ala the prolonged Peter vs. man in giant chicken suit fights found in select episode of Family Guy. Additionally, various characters have moments of internal monologue; making it impossible to establish a consistent point of view. These choices culminate in a manner that took me out of the movie. Again, they took me out of the film, negatively affecting the drama; but didn’t make the movie incoherent.
I’ve never seen the appeal of Cameron Diaz. To her credit, she wasn’t overtly annoying as the stern mother. Her performance contains all the elements needed to make the viewer believe that it’s authentic, heartfelt, and genuine. As surprising as that my sound, the player who disappointed the most was Breslin. I’m not expecting a show of range, but this seems like a character that is easy for her to visit and she willingly takes a backseat to an ensemble cast. To this extent, the best performance belongs to Vassilieva, the underbilled central figure of the story. Beyond make-up, she makes her condition believable with each delivery ranging from the sarcastic to the ailing.
My Sister’s Keeper is fodder for heartstrings, and at its best it’s worth considering when one is looking for a drama during this summer. Face it; there isn’t much out there. I’ll admit to you if I shed a single tear during a film, and this one didn’t deserve any. Part of the problem is that it deals with a subject that expects moviegoers to cry, instead of outright earning the emotional response through some underhanded means (see this year’s Up). Maybe a tighter focus on one of the sisters, the mother, or even the lawyer, could have elevated it beyond mediocre. **½
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