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My Sister's Keeper
EMAILPRINTNew Line Cinema (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 28 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 37 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
Jeremy Leven
Nick Cassavetes
Directed by: Nick Cassavetes
Release Date:
Theatrical: June 26, 2009
DVD: November 17, 2009
Running Time: 106 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for mature thematic content, some disturbing images, sensuality, language and brief teen drinking
Starring Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin, Alec Baldwin, Jason Patric, Sofia Vassilieva, and Joan Cusack
Sara and Brian Fitzgerald's life with their young son and their two-year-old daughter, Kate, is forever altered when they learn that Kate has leukemia. The parents' only hope is to conceive another child, specifically intended to save Kate's life. For some, such genetic engineering would raise both moral and ethical questions; for the Fitzgeralds, Sara in particular, there is no choice but to do whatever it takes to keep Kate alive. And what it takes is Anna. (New Line Cinema)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Alpha Dog John Q The Notebook
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The movie never says so, but it's a practical parable about the debate between pro-choice and pro-life. If you're pro-life, you would require Anna to donate her kidney, although there is a chance she could die, and her sister doesn't have a good prognosis. If you're pro-choice, you would support Anna's lawsuit.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
The strength of the acting and the modulation of the screenplay transforms what could have been a run-of-the-mill Lifetime disease-of-the-week movie into something more insightful and intelligent.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
For all its awkward structure, the film is heartfelt and deeply affecting.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
A high-class weepie for adults who disdain the lower forms of four-hankiedom.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
If you're going to make a weepy, there's no reason you can't make it with intelligence and insight as the makers of My Sister's Keeper have done.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Stan Hall
The interesting ethical and moral issues of the situation are hashed out in courtroom scenes (with Joan Cusack as the judge!) that devolve into hysteria in jarring contrast to a sensitively handled death scene that soon follows.
Read Full Review >New Orleans Times-Picayune Mike Scott
There's no point mincing words: My Sister's Keeper is a difficult film to watch. That's not to say it isn't well-assembled, well-cast or well-acted.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Diaz gets her own voice-over monologue, as does Patric - the different points of view functioning like stanza refrains, born in shared familial anguish.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
Within this structurally baggy weepie, at least two perfectly good movies fight to break free, one a provocative legal thriller, the other a melodrama.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Their message (Cassavetes and screenwriter Jeremy Leven) in My Sister's Keeper? Cancer sucks, but there's always the balm of beach scenes and an emo soundtrack.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
A bit like a real-world horror film with "heart," right down to the trick ending.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) James Adams
Finally, it's more a cautionary tale about the dangers of what can happen when a bad movie happens to a popular novelist than a keeper for the ages.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
A lighter hand would have enhanced some very good performances.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Jason Buchanan
Should be shown in theaters that offer seats with tissue dispensers built right into the arm rests.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
My Sister’s Keeper takes on a very tough subject -- and has, in Anna and Kate, two pretty tough characters played by strong young actresses -- but ultimately it is too soft, too easy, and it dissolves like a tear-soaked tissue.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Abigail Breslin and Sofia Vassilieva are terrific. But the performances by the older actors are largely forgettable.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
The harder this assault weapon went at my tear ducts, the more duct tape I wrapped around them as a defensive measure.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Connie Ogle
You might call My Sister's Keeper manipulative, and you would not be inaccurate.
Read Full Review >Variety Justin Chang
Unsubtle, uneven and undeniably effective, this take-no-prisoners cancer weepie poses a fascinating moral quandary.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Nick Pinkerton
You don't usually see this unblinking attention to the progress of physical decay in a PG-13 wide-release movie, and to the degree that it represents a real aspect of human experience generally curtained out of sight, it is, in the language of movie people, a brave decision. But makeup department realism alone can't redeem the dramatic fallacies surrounding it.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
Anyone who watched (and probably wept his or her way through) the swoony 2004 melodrama "The Notebook" knows Cassavetes is not a man to leave a spot of sap untapped, and in My Sister's Keeper, he pulls out a very big drill indeed.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
Surrounding and ultimately subsuming this ethical struggle is a fair amount of pediatric-cancer horror and mush, though Cassavetes is frequently bailed out by his cast (Diaz is admirably unpleasant as the controlling mother, and Joan Cusack is unusually tough and restrained as the presiding judge).
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Betsy Sharkey
There is always a fine line between moving and manipulation in telling heartbreaking stories, and it is here that Cassavetes largely fails us. Where restraint might have raised up My Sister's Keeper, a heavy hand has brought it down.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
A pall of disaster, in fact, hangs over everyone in this shapeless, hankie-wringing adaptation of the best-selling Jodi Picoult novel.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
It would take a heart of stone not to be affected by My Sister’s Keeper, but the film’s unceasing manipulation has a Medusa effect on the organ.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Joe Neumaier
Patric and Baldwin react to all the morbidity with restraint, and Vassilieva keeps her bald head high. But they won't be able to help this barefaced vulgarity earn any terms of endearment.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
The infuriating cop–out ending reduces the premise to mush. I wanted to scream. Here goes: Arghh!
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.2 (out of 10) based on 37 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Jonny W gave it a0:
This film was dreadfully shot and worked. The story is not well written at all, and the characters very unbelievable. It was quite hurtful to me that this film has been commissioned!
Greg W gave it a9:
Incredible capture of a real life scene. Very Well Done.
tracy t gave it a4:
If you have not read the book then a good film, if you have read the book the the film will disappoint, the book gives more detail and goes a lot deeper and the ending it totally different, watch the film then read the book.
James R gave it a3:
Good idea for a movie, but so cheesly and predictably executed. It's almost as if the characters new they were in a bad Hollywood movie, so they acted accordingly. And stop the repeated slow motion scenes! I felt like half of the movie was in slow motion. IT HAS LIMITED EMOTIONAL EFFECT. Not sure exactly how long the movie went for, but it felt like way too long. Good idea for a movie, but poorly executed.
Alice B gave it a10:
I have already read the book before i saw it yesterday, and thought the film was amazing. Although quite different to the book, the actors were extremely convincing. Cameron Diaz was fantastic, and so was abigail breslin and sofia vassilieva! I think in a way it is good to have a different ending to the book because you don't want to go see a film EXACTLY the same as the book, or it is boring. You must see this film, it had me laughing crying and smiling.
Shana K. gave it a10:
I haven't read the book but I loved the movie. The acting was great, the characters had a lot of depth and were well developed. It's a move that definitely makes you think. A must see, just make sure to bring a box of kleenex.
Krista P. gave it a10:
My sister's keeper made me smile, made me cry, and somehow made me laugh. It was an amazing tale of a bond between sisters. Cameron Diaz did an outstanding job, but I have to say that Sophia Vassilieva couldn't have been any better! Absolutely outstanding! Fabulous! Amazing! A 10!
