The instant I saw the trailer of My Sister’s Keeper, I was definite that I would watch it. I generally like action, adventure, sci-fi and disaster movies, but I have a soft spot for touching or even tear-jerking dramas. Heck, two of my most recent movie reactions on this blog—the ones on The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and 100—are such kind of films. And as far as touching dramas are concerned, My Sister’s Keeper does not disappoint. (I think I even shed a tear or two while watching the movie.)

The film, which was based on a novel, tells the story of two sisters and their family. The older sister, Kate, suffers from leukemia, while the younger sister, Anna, was conceived in-vitro to provide a genetic match for Kate. Subsequently, Anna’s body was used to sustain her sister’s life. At age 15, Kate went into renal failure. Since it was expected that Anna would donate one of her kidneys to save Kate (and thus hamper her future life because of the lack of one kidney), she decided to sue her parents (portrayed by Cameron Diaz and Jason Patric), with the assistance of a celebrity lawyer (played by Alec Baldwin), for termination of parental rights to her body.

Watching My Sister’s Keeper, it’s kinda hard to believe that Cameron Diaz, the sexy actress that did offbeat comedic roles in There’s Something About Mary and the Charlie’s Angels series, portrayed such a serious dramatic role. Her performance here is definitely the best I’ve seen from her. Abigail Breslin as Anna was also quite good but the acting of Sofia Vassilieva as the older sister Kate was a revelation. I also liked the strong presence of Joan Cusack who portrayed the judge in the hearing of Anna’s case; she managed to bring a certain gravitas to her role.

All in all, this is one really excellent movie that I definitely recommend that you should watch. (Unfortunately, it’s no longer screening in Metro Manila so you should catch it on DVD/VCD or wait for it on HBO or other movie TV channels.)