Nick Cassavetes� My Sister�s Keeper opens with an 11-year-old girl suing her parents to gain medical emancipation from them because she�s tired of being a donor for her leukaemia ravaged sister.

My Sister's Keeper (12A)
**
Dir: Nick Cassavetes
With: Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin, Alec Baldwin

Nick Cassavetes' My Sister's Keeper opens with an 11-year-old girl (Abigail Breslin) suing her parents (Cameron Diaz and Jason Patric) to gain medical emancipation from them because she's tired of being a donor for her leukaemia ravaged sister (Sofia Vassilieva).

If she wins, her sister will die. It's a provocative device that should make for a gripping, complex tear-jerker, but it's ruined by heavy-handed direction and a lazy, manipulative screenplay. Rather than concentrating on the central dilemma, Cassavetes opts to pile on the family flashbacks amid countless soft-rock montages and cheaply vilifies Diaz's mother along the way.

The result is a film that insults our intelligence. Vassilieva excels as the terminal daughter, and there's reliable support from Alec Baldwin and Joan Cusack, but by aiming for the tear-ducts rather than the brain Cassavetes forfeits credibility, quality and - ultimately - our empathy.

Reviewed by Rob Carnevale