This film was hard to watch. What rubbed me the wrong way is how mom did things that were morally wrong to both her girls and left the boy's needs out of the picture. I think mom was not able to see what she was doing was wrong and see the pain it was causing.It had some really good acting.Only see this one if you are up for it.

While the movie does take a few aspects from the book it fails at being a true adaptation. From leaving out critical storylines to the horrible ending, it's hard to stomach how they butchered this story. The poetic ending of the book is gone. You are left with sappy Hollywood mush.

I am really surprised at the difference between human beings. I recently saw 'Message in a bottle' and I was so surprised by the ending of that particular movie that I took time researching on internet why people love these kind of movies, and then there was someone who said her mother loved this movie here : 'My sister's keeper'.Although I had already seen 'the Notebook' which I found too sentimental, so not realistic (if you write letters and don't get responses for a while, and you write to someone who lives not far away, in a year you don't go simply knock on that someone's door?) not well directed, although I had seen 'My sister's keeper' was yet another Nick Cassavetes movie, I decided to watch this BECAUSE I really wanted to understand how these kind of movies become blockbusters. I love romances, I love dramas, I love all kind of movies, but first of all, I love well directed movies and making sense movies. I for instance loved the Richard Linklater's trilogy : 'Before sunrise', 'Before sunset' and 'Before midnight'. I was blown away by the veracity of the acting which in my opinion was only possible because of the directing of the movie. I saw the second part of that trilogy I don't know how many times, and the first part changed me for what seems ever... So when I see 'My sister's keeper', I cry, yes, but I don't like the movie, I find it a bit off, and way too long, me who is able to watch the long version of 'Dances with wolves' without moving! For me, cinema is sacred. And maybe I'm used to very sharp and daring and honest movies -like 'Krisha'- so this didn't do it for me at all. I cried because I'm a normal human being : I'm faced with a very sad situation and all the strings are pulled for me to cry, so I cry. But not satisfied cinematographically. Also something bothered me very much : is that instead of showing the name of the actress who plays the one with cancer, the poster of the movie puts in big caps the names of the two actresses who actually are movie stars. I don't like that, especially that actually I found that the best actress in this movie was clearly the one playing the one with cancer. I did not like very much the acting of the other actors except for the judge and the boyfriend and the father. Cameron Diaz was better than in other movie I saw with her, but still even if really here she expresses feelings that look authentic, I see Cameron Diaz, I don't consistently see a mother. So, after watching this movie, I end up with the same big disappointment that I had before watching it : still not understanding why the mother of someone loved so much this movie. It's a weird thing how different we are...PS : Oh and another very disappoint thing is that Cameron Diaz did not actually shave her head! So disappoint considering actually that the scene where she pretends she shaves her head, is one scene where I was so moved. Moved (by the belief) that Cameron Diaz as an actress would go that far to make us be in the movie, it made me really feel about what a mother can do for her child! But no! They do incredible things in prosthetic these days...

Let's face it, some books are better not having film adaptations. This is no exception. The screenplay's a mess, the pacing is all over the place and the characters (apart from Kate and Anna) really aren't very likable. I mean I get it, the mother was supposed to be this die hard tenacious woman trying to save her daughter, but she comes off more as a maniac who is willing to kill everyone and everything to save her daughter, including the people around her. Cameron Diaz just doesn't convince me as the mother and what makes it worse is in the midst of being a maniac she tries to slip in quirky jokes that are flat as pancakes. As for the rest of the cast, I mean Abby Breslin is fine as Anna and is even right on the money with the part, but the script she's given is so bad that it squanders that talent. Sofia Vassilieva as well. She owns her part, but again the script kills her acting. The rest of the cast is just a range of big names from Alec Baldwin to Emily Deschanel to Joan Cusack to even E.G. Daily as nothing more than two dimensional characters who show up for a few scenes to pad out the movie. The film repeatedly switches between failed comedy and heavy handed emotionally manipulative scenes. Seriously, are you trying to make us laugh or cry?So I'd say avoid this. It rings hollow and most of the movie feels like filler. Like I said, there are lots of movies that do well coming off of books, but this isn't one of them.