Like Jodi Picoult’s book My Sister’s Keeper, Nick Cassavetes’ movie adaptation works hard to push and pull your emotions: you can be accused of being truly hard hearted if you don’t shed a tear while watching it.  However, while as a book this felt manipulative and even distasteful, it works better in the context of a Hollywood movie.  The camera lingers on the characters’ faces, showing their pain and joy, and music in the background heightens the feelings.  The cinematography is especially strong. 

Abigail Breslin is wonderful as Anna Fitzgerald, the 11-year-old who is tired of being used as an organ farm for her sister Kate who has cancer, is a strong performance by Sofia Vassilieva.  Cameron Diaz and Jason Patric are more stilted in their performances as the parents, although they are good in the scenes where they are fighting with each other, and Alec Baldwin does his usual job as Anna’s lawyer. It’s a good drama that raises important issues in medical ethics, and really highlights the moral worries about bringing a child into the world so that she can be a match for a sibling.  I plan to use it in my introductory level undergraduate courses as a way to bring the topics alive to the students.  The DVD has a few deleted scenes, but no commentaries, and has both full screen and wide screen versions on one disc. 

© 2010 Christian Perring        

Christian Perring, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Dowling College, New York