Review: My Sister's Keeper

Sure it's a chick flick - but I really, really wanted to see it.  I have not yet read the novel My Sister's Keeper, but find the concept interesting: a child who is genetically engineered to serve as a donor for her sister who has leukemia suddenly decides she wants to be medically emancipated from her parents and thus no longer obligated to donate bone marrow and organs.  My Sister's Keeper is directed by Nick Cassavetes, the same man behind the (in?)famous Notebook.  As with The Notebook, I started bawling about an hour into this movie and didn't stop until after we left the theatre.  The trouble is, I can't decide whether such shameless tugging of heart strings is a good thing or a bad thing.  For now, though, I'll decide it's a good thing.  I genuinely liked this movie.  It's well acted and the story is original and engaging.  Cameron Diaz is more than believable in the demanding role of the girls' mother, and Abigail Breslin is as charming as always as Anna, the younger sister.  

There are few (if any) topics more heartbreaking than that of a dying child, making it difficult to involve any sort of irony or cynicism in the story line.  A lack of such devices in a serious film can lead to it turning into the worst sort of melodrama.  Despite all the tears, however, something about My Sister's Keeper allows it to stop short of that realm.  Maybe it's because the subject matter is simply so sad one almost feels guilty dismissing it as mushy and overdone.  Or perhaps it's because there's really no "bad guy" in the movie.  It's easy to sympathize with all characters, no matter how irrational their actions seem.

Bottom line:  most women, and maybe some men, will like this movie.  But make sure to bring lots of kleenex.  I mean, like, an entire box.  (I grabbed a handful from the box in the car before heading into the theatre and it honestly wasn't enough).