My Sister's Keeper

The summer film season is usually the time for explosions, shoot-outs and car chases; not that there's anything wrong with a tearjerker to break things up. Well, there are plenty of tears in this film, and in this era of in vitro fertilization and stem cell debates, an important, but little discussed issue is also brought front and center. The debate that centers the film is, is it morally correct to engineer a child to be a perfect match for organic donor material for an older child with a serious illness. Sofia Vassilieva plays the older daughter Kate, and she has had leukemia from a very young age, and will soon die if she doesn't get a donor kidney from her perfect match sister Anna, played by Abigail Breslin. Anna decides that she's tired of the needles and procedures, and is also concerned that she might one day need her extra kidney. She then retains a well publicized attorney, an excellent Alec Baldwin, to sue her parents for medical emancipation. Although the story is manipulative, and in case you're wondering, virtually all movies are on a certain level; it is also entertaining and engrossing. The story is told in the present day, and via flashback, and the two modes mesh well. Cameron Diaz plays the attorney mom who will do anything to save her older daughter, including pleading her own case before the judge, played by Joan Cusack. Ms. Diaz does a fine job in this de-glammed role. This film will likely make you think a bit while providing a welcome respite from the usual summer mayhem.

Rating - 3 Stars