ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

Female Film Critics 24/375

Reviews 

AWFJ Women On Film – “My Sister’s Keeper” – Susan Granger reviews

Susan Granger , , , , , ,
0 Flares 0 Flares ×

Back in 2004, Jodi Picoult wrote a provocative novel based on a news story about a real-life couple (Mary and Abe Ayala) who decided to conceive a baby specifically to be a compatible bone marrow donor for Anissa, their older, leukemia-stricken daughter. An ethical debate erupted and that’s the genesis of this misguided concept.

Abigail Breslin (“Little Miss Sunshine”) plays Anna, the narrator, who explains, “I was made in a Petri dish to be spare parts” for her beloved sister, Kate (Sofia Vassilieva), who has leukemia. Their determined mother, Sara (Cameron Diaz), quit her career as an attorney to provide full-time care for Kate, dominating her hapless husband, Brian (Jason Patric) and ignoring the needs of Sara and her dyslexic brother, Jesse (Evan Ellingson). But now, after 11 years of enduring painful medical procedures, spunky Sara enlists the aid of a flamboyant lawyer (Alec Baldwin) to sue her parents for “medical emancipation,” seeking ownership of her own body. That’s the quandary facing Judge De Salvo (Joan Cusack) who presides at the unconventional trial.

Dwelling on long, drawn-out scenes of Kate’s pitiful suffering, neither screenwriter Jeremy Leven nor tear-jerking director Nick Cassavetes (who collaborated on “The Notebook”) waste a moment on common sense in dealing with her inevitable death and the chaotic chronology is beyond confusing. In one scene, Sofia Vassilieva is bald; in another, she has a mane of long, blonde hair; then she’s bald again. No explanation given. And Cameron Diaz, who was supposedly dedicated to achieving ‘reality,’ obviously fakes a maternally sympathetic head-shaving gesture.

Lest you ponder this moral dilemma this too long, what the Ayalas did many years ago probably wouldn’t happen today. A huge national marrow donor program exists and fewer leukemia patients require marrow transplants. And, as a sidebar, Anissa Ayala is cancer-free and working as a development director for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “My Sister’s Keeper” is an agonizing 4.What a maudlin mess!

0 Flares Twitter 0 Facebook 0 0 Flares ×

Susan Granger

Susan Granger is a product of Hollywood. Her natural father, S. Sylvan Simon, was a director and producer at R.K.O., M.G.M. and Columbia Pictures; her adoptive father, Armand Deutsch, produced movies at M.G.M. As a child, Susan appeared in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Margaret O'Brien and Lassie. She attended Mills College in California, studying journalism with Pierre Salinger, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, Phi Beta Kappa, with highest honors in journalism. During her adult life, Susan has been on radio and television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic. Her newspaper reviews have been syndicated around the world, and she has appeared on American Movie Classics cable television. In addition, her celebrity interviews and articles have been published in REDBOOK, PLAYBOY, FAMILY CIRCLE, COSMOPOLITAN, WORKING WOMAN and THE NEW YORK TIMES, as well as in PARIS MATCH, ELLE, HELLO, CARIBBEAN WORLD, ISLAND LIFE, MACO DESTINATIONS, NEWS LIMITED NEWSPAPERS (Australia), UK DAILY MAIL, UK SUNDAY MIRROR, DS (France), LA REPUBBLICA (Italy), BUNTE (Germany), VIP TRAVELLER (Krisworld) and many other international publications through SSG Syndicate. Susan also lectures on the "Magic and Mythology of Hollywood" and "Don't Take It Personally: Conquering Criticism and other Survival Skills," originally published on tape by Dove Audio.