Shamelessly manipulative and relentlessly sentimental, My Sister's Keeper nevertheless establishes itself as a solid, consistently compelling tearjerker that's anchored by several Oscar-caliber performances. The movie, based on Jodi Picoult's novel, follows 11-year-old Anna Fitzgerald (Abigail Breslin) as she hires a lawyer (Alec Baldwin's Campbell Alexander) and launches a lawsuit against her parents (Cameron Diaz's Sara and Jason Patric's Brian) for control of her own body, after spending years effectively keeping her leukemia-stricken sister (Sofia Vassilieva's Kate) alive with donations of various bodily fluids and materials. Director and co-writer Nick Cassavetes generally does an effective job of streamlining Picoult's engrossing yet overstuffed narrative, with his decision to jettison a few of the book's more overtly superfluous elements (ie a supporting character's pyromania, Campbell's rekindled relationship with an old girlfriend, etc) playing an instrumental role in the film's success. The inherently engaging storyline admittedly does feel as though it'd be right at home within the confines of a Lifetime movie-of-the-week, yet there's little doubt that My Sister's Keeper consistently manages to rise above its similarly-themed, undeniably low-rent brethren (including another recent adaptation of Picoult's work, The Tenth Circle) - with Caleb Deschanel's lush cinematography and, especially, the performances ensuring that the film is ultimately able to transcend its melodramatic origins. And while Diaz's turn as Anna's frantic mother occasionally borders on the histrionic, the movie otherwise boasts some seriously impressive acting from a cast that also includes David Thornton, Joan Cusack, and Thomas Dekker - although it's Vassilieva's hypnotic, downright revelatory work that stands as My Sister's Keeper's most indelible (and flat-out affecting) attribute. The end result is a stirring drama that comes off as a perfect antidote to the over-the-top summer fare currently dominating multiplexes, with its unapologetically old-fashioned sensibilities effortlessly setting it apart from its low-key competition.
