My Sister's Keeper

In the distant past, Hollywood producers discovered that betting on children is a sure bet. Adorable cunning little girls in the 1930s reconciled quarrelsome parents and mended family disputes. Clever boys with lots of ideas and unwavering enthusiasm saved family businesses from decline. The genre improved, and already clever children became even smarter, until it reached today's sad endings, when girls assign tasks to lawyers and give lessons in psychology and ethics to the adult world. Emotional blackmailing has been done in many movies, but this title took it to the extreme. It is so transparently manipulative that not only does it not work on me, but it literally offends me. It ruined my mood for a very long time and I will not be even a bit merciful towards it. Go to hell with this overused kitsch. Overall impression: 0 out of 0. (23/09/2015)

This film left me with only negative feelings, I haven’t seen anything less likeable for quite some time. My Sister´s Keeper is emotional blackmail in its purest form and I consider it a personal success that it didn’t affect me. In “dead serious” dramas, children should never be more mature than adults, period. The actors and the direction are excellent, though. (21/11/2009)

You are watching a melodramatic film about the cohesion of a family in difficult life situations, in which delicate piano plays in sunlit shots, and heavy scenes are filled with emotions. You almost want to say that it's just another Hollywood template, but then you realize that Nick Cassavetes has everything under control, and in certain aspects, even in the banal and clichéd themes and scenes – however schematic they may be – it is his own, sufficiently heartfelt, unobtrusive, intellectual, and emotionally wrenching style, ruling in a very similar way as in The Notebook. Cameron Diaz plays her heart out. (05/03/2015)

Totally weepy movie, I was kind of expecting this ending, but that's okay. I kind of envy the siblings their relationship, my sister and I will never have one that nice, but maybe it's generated by the disease, if it hadn't broken out maybe they wouldn't all be so nice to each other... who knows. But there were moments that I didn't love – like a relationship between two sick people, I was just waiting for the grim reaper to come knocking. I was kind of thinking towards the end of the movie: "Die already." And when it happened, I didn't even cry, there were other things I thought were sadder. Somewhat of a weak 4 stars. (23/01/2011)

I welcome and respect stories with a similar message, but this ambitious kitsch unfortunately didn't grab me by the heart. Cassavetes has a well-written script, where thoughtful time jumps enhance the depth and emotional trail that the central characters' almost existentially fraught relationship leaves behind as the plot progresses, but this shallow humanist is boring as a director – the film not only proceeds and ends in a wholly expected manner, but more importantly seems to hold together only by virtue of the heartfelt performances. Everything else is very professional and moving, but not in that personal, realistic-artistic way as in the case of Lasse Hallstrom, but in a machine-like, self-serving and completely impersonal way. It’s a shame. 65% (08/11/2015)