When we first saw that My Sister's Keeper was scheduled for a summer release, we couldn't help but wonder why? For anyone not familiar with the Jodi Picoult book that inspired the movie, the plot centers on a young girl conceived to help her older sister fight cancer, who then grows tired of the treatment regimen and sues her parents ... and it gets even more depressing from there.
All in all, not your standard summer blockbuster fare.
But it got us thinking, sometimes you just need to shed a few. However, if that's your motivation this weekend, you might want to stay at home with Terms of Endearment, Sophie's Choice, Life Is Beautiful, or another familial tear-jerker instead. Don't believe us? Check out these critics' reviews.
"There's crying and vomiting aplenty ... and audiences may be forgiven the urge to respond in kind."
— Justin Chang, Variety
"What an agonizing, misguided, maudlin mess!"
—
Susan Granger, SSG Syndicate
"...offers a couple of twists, one of them crucial and the other cruelly unnecessary and melodramatic. Actually, the crucial twist is steeped in weepy melodrama, too, right down to the bone."
— Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
"My Sister's Keeper isn't worth the weeping."
— Claudia Puig, USA TODAY