BOTTOM LINE: The stirring performances and thought-provoking subject matter will grip you in this complex tale of life and death, but a lack of directorial focus and overt sentimentality ruin what could have otherwise been a great film.

THE GOOD: “My Sister’s Keeper” delves in to the lives a family coping with the terminal illness of one of the children Kate (Sofia Vassilieva) who has a leukemic cancer. Mother Sara (Cameron Diaz) is a fighter and is prepared to do anything to save her; this leads her to follow an under-the-table suggestion by her doctor to create another child in a test tube who can be ‘harvested’ for donor material to keep Kate alive. This child turns in to Anna (Abigail Breslin) who after years of being subjected to medical donor treatments, decides enough is enough and hires celebrity lawyer Campbell Alexander (Alec Baldwin) to sue her parents for the rights to her own body. This idea surprisingly does not become a large focus of the film, with director Cassavetes choosing to focus more on the character interactions and the presentation of terminal illness in the character of Kate. The film works well in these character moments, with Kate proving to be the strongest of them all through the acceptance of her fate and trying to hold her family together. Cameron Diaz deserves big marks for her performance as she is completely convincing as the driven mother determined to do whatever it takes; in many ways, she is a monster and unlikeable in how she uses Anna, but in other ways, the ‘Captain Ahab’ nature of her character that Diaz brings to it makes the character more three-dimensional and forgivable than that. Other factors such as the sequences in the hospital which show the pain and suffering that cancer sufferers go through is compelling to watch, as are the touching character moments between the ensemble cast, and all the actors are to be commended. The film is genuine and believable in its presentation of a terminal illness, and in this respect, it is hard not to be compelled by it.

THE BAD: Despite the noble themes and strong performances, “My Sister’s Keeper” is somewhat unfocused and overtly sentimental. Nick Cassavetes is an actor first, and in this respect, his direction of the actors is second to none, but his ability to look at the big picture is lacking. The film meanders from place to place, jumping backwards and forwards in time and not providing a smooth transition between any of them. Flashbacks become huge long sequences in the film to the point where when we return to the original narrative, we have almost forgotten that that is where we came from. The premise is also contrived somewhat, in that the ‘designer-baby’ idea is almost arbitrary and forced, at least in relation to what else is happening in the film. There are also some not-so-well handled moments, mainly revolving around Alec Baldwin’s character of Campbell Alexander; his epileptic fit during the court room sequences is almost comically handled, when the idea underlining it is quite serious. Unfortunately, the film is undermined further by the manipulative sentimentality constructed from many sequences; aside from one genuine moment where Sara breaks down and Kate comforts her at the end, there are many “tear-jerking” moments that have been put in by design as opposed to being genuine. All these elements drag the film down, which is unfortunate as the subject matter is quite strong.