A DEADLY DILEMMA; THE BIG RELEASE.

Byline: DAVID EDWARDS 

MY SISTER'S KEEPER Cert 12A, 109mins ****

ormer Little Miss Sunshine Abigail Breslin plays an 11-yearold girl who's been geneticallyengineered to keep her cancerstricken sibling alive. And My Sister's Keeper feels like a movie that's been genetically engineered to bring a lump to your throat.

While a beautifully told, topical yarn - based on Jodi Picoult's book - no opportunity is missed to get your tear ducts pumping. It may as well have been sponsored by Kleenex.

Cameron Diaz plays Sara Fitzgerald, a steely mom whose world revolves around her teenage daughter Kate (Sofia Vassilieva), who suffers from leukaemia. In a bid to save the girl's life, Sara and her husband Brian (Jason Patric) conceived another child, Anna (Breslin), who's genetically identical and thus able to donate blood and body tissue when her sister needs it.

But while the two children are devoted to one another, crisis strikes when Anna's told she needs to give Kate one of her kidneys - a move that will severely affect her life and prevent her from ever having children. In a move that shocks and infuriates her family, Anna refuses and enlists the help of a solicitor (Alec Baldwin) to prevent it happening.

Directed by Nick Cassavetes (son of famed filmmaker John), the movie touches on a number of weighty issues, such as how far should science go, the rights of the child and human mortality. This makes it very much a thinking person's weepy, while the Fitzgeralds' agonising dilemma will keep you talking for weeks.

DAD: Patric The cast - including Joan Cusack as a judge - are all pitch perfect, while Cassavetes' even-handed script does a fine job presenting the predicament from all points of view.

Refreshingly, while the movie packs an emotional wallop, things never become too cloying. Sure, there's a tear-jerking score, while the wideeyed Breslin is as cute as a whole drawer of buttons, but somehow you never feel too manipulated.

It all makes for a very satisfying, if emotionally draining, experience. Needless to say you should take a large box of hankies - plus a bottle of water so you can rehydrate afterwards.

THE REEL LOWDOWN 

BEST QUOTE: Kate: "I don't mind my disease killing me, but it's killing my family too."

BEST BIT: Great performances, especially from Breslin.

WORST BIT: The ending is a touch dragged out.

IF YOU LIKED...

Irreconcilable Differences, The Notebook... YOU'LL LIKE THIS.

CAPTION(S):

TROUBLED DAD: Jason Patric DAY IN COURT: Abigail Breslin and Alec Baldwin SURE SHOT: Cameron Diaz as Sara Fitzgerald