‘My Sister’s Keeper’ meets middling expectations

By Zack McGhee | Thursday, July 2, 2009, 11:37 AM

Having lost internet access at home the day before I saw My Sister’s Keeper, my blogging abilities have been mostly hamstrung. So far I’ve resisted the urge to tap out a few malformed thoughts about it on my iPhone, but the truth is I really don’t have much to say about this melodramatic weepy. I’ll skip the synopsis, and just admit that the trailer had me teary eyed. Director Nick Cassavetes achieves his intended goal of reducing his audience to a blubbering mess — toward the end, you could hear the whole theater hitching in unison — but it still feels as manufactured as a Hallmark card or a Lifetime movie.

Curious about differences between this adaptation and its source (I didn’t read the book), I turned to Wikipedia, and was shocked — shocked! — at the manipulative, contrived ending Jodi Picoult somehow sold to readers of her novel. Cassavetes and co-screenwriter Jeremy Leven certainly earn points for coming to an emotionally truer (if slightly more obvious) conclusion. But major demerits for the over reliance on narration in the first half, and the movie’s makeshift flashback structure is entirely without purpose. Both tactics are incredibly distancing, and only serve to underline the story’s most maudlin elements.

Props to the performers, though. Sofia Vassilieva goes all the way with this incredibly daunting role. As Kate, the poor girl’s got cancer and her character’s not even well written. Both the book and the movie are more interested in her sister and her mother, even though we’re beat over the head with how all anyone cares about is Kate. She bravely runs the gauntlet that even little Dakota Fanning — who was fucking raped in Hounddog — wouldn’t dare undertake. Cameron Diaz is probably the weakest of the bunch (with the possible exception of Jason Patric, who doesn’t do much), but there is a moment here where she breaks down toward the end of the film that she just nails. Shout out to Joan Cusack!

Ultimately, My Sister’s Keeper delivers what it promises. Like Cassavetes’ The Notebook, it’s an emotionally wrenching, manipulative two hours. But is it a good movie? Not by a long shot.

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