The Bottom Line: My Sister's Keeper
My Sister’s Keeper
Directed by Nick Cassavetes
Spoiler Alert: If you have read the Jodi Picoult’s novel My Sister’s Keeper Hooking Up rip
and do not want the ending of this film ruined, read no further. (Yes, you read that right.)
Jodi Picoult is the John Grisham of the estrogen-drenched tearjerker, churning out about a book per year, including 2004’s My Sister’s Keeper. Given her penchant for melodrama, usually concerning children, her work seems to have found its cinematic match in director/screenwriter Nick Cassavetes, who also gave us the Nicholas Sparks adaptation The Notebook.
My Sister’s Keeper is the story of the Fitzgerald family, mom Sara, dad Brian and kids Kate, Jesse, and Anna. Kate has been battling leukemia for most of her life. Sara and Brian decided to conceive Anna to provide Kate with the bone marrow and organs she needed to battle her illness. However, after eleven years of being poked and prodded, Anna decides enough is enough and seeks to be medically emancipated from her parents instead of surrendering a kidney Kate needs to survive. Debates about who really has the rights to Anna’s body ensue as the family attempts to deal with the fallout of the Anna’s lawsuit. This is where any resemblance to the source material ceases and Cassavetes and his co-screenwriter Jeremy Leven take over.
On some levels, My Sister’s Keeper Metro dvd
succeeds admirably. Both a testament to the power of family and as pro-life/pro-choice allegory, it can be thought-provoking and moving. Abigail Breslin, beginning to shed her cute-as-a-button image, is first-rate as the put upon Anna and Alec Baldwin reminds us that he is a talented dramatic actor, in a supporting role as Anna’s lawyer.
As the Fitzgerald parents, Jason Patric and Cameron Diaz both significantly improve on what they’re given to work with. Patric’s performance is a reminder that he used to actually act, instead of just drink heavily and sleep with It Girls, and Diaz shows some of hints of the dramatic chops she revealed in In Her Shoes and Vanilla Sky. Her lack of vanity is also to be commended. She looks sleep deprived, with puffy eyes and greasy hair and her wardrobe consists mostly of jeans and ratty sweaters. Few actresses are willing to allow their onscreen look to reflect their character’s reality (I’m looking at you, Jennifer Aniston in Marley and Me.)
But the movie belongs to Sofia Vassilieva as the afflicted Kate. Bald headed and pasty-skinned, she radiates sweetness and warmth. She isn’t given a lot to do besides vomit and bleed but she makes the most of every moment onscreen. With a script that can at times feel manipulative, Vassilieva never makes you pity Kate. She simply makes you root for her.
Even these great performances can’t save the script from itself, especially as its deus ex machina of a finale approaches. We learn that Anna would gladly give Kate her kidney but that Kate is the one who has had enough and wants to die. Anna’s lawsuit is granted and Kate gets her wish. This complete one-eighty from Picoult’s novel is unnecessary and, frankly, not nearly as surprising or rewarding as the original ending. Obviously, the filmmakers had their own story to tell, which begs the question: why not just write something similar but original? Why adapt a novel and disappoint its fans?
The Bottom Line
: Although there’s some fine acting, you can probably save your eleven bucks, stay home, watch Lifetime, and be satisfied. However, I am adding Sofia Vassilieva to my list of potential Oscar nominees.
–Sarah Hudson
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