SACRIFICIAL counter- programming against the “Transformers” juggernaut, Nick Cassavetes’ “My Sister’s Keeper” targets tear ducts so ruthlessly, it might as well be sponsored by Kleenex.
Which is something of a shame. A lighter hand would have enhanced some very good performances — and an unusually realistic depiction of terminal illness for Hollywood, where dying all too often still resembles something straight out of “Love Story.”
Jeremy Leven, who wrote Cassavetes’ far more effective weepie “The Notebook,” is working here from a novel by Jodi Piccoult, three of whose previous works were adapted for Lifetime.
This one’s intriguing premise is that 11-year-old Anna (Abigail Breslin) has been specifically conceived and genetically engineered as an organ donor for her teenage sister Kate (Sofia Vassilieva), who developed leukemia as a baby.
The superb French movie “A Christmas Tale” mined this kind of setup for dark laughs.
But “My Sister’s Keeper” instead draws inspiration from a different sort of dark comedy, “Irreconcilable Differences” (the one in which Drew Barrymore tried to “divorce” her self-absorbed parents).
Anna hires a showboating lawyer (Alec Baldwin) known for his TV ads to sue for “medical emancipation” so her parents can’t force her to donate a kidney for her sibling, who is beloved but dying.
The suit infuriates their mother, Sara (Cameron Diaz), who has given up her law career to nurse Kate for 15 years and angrily calls Anna “selfish.”
More sympathetic are the girls’ long-suffering fireman father (Jason Patric) and their dyslexic brother (Evan Ellingson).
They realize, along with a sympathetic and always-available oncologist (David Thornton), that a kidney donation may only be painfully delaying the inevitable for Kate.
The main story is frequently interrupted by a series of schmaltzy flashbacks — beautifully photographed by Caleb Deschanel — including Kate’s doomed romance with another teenage cancer patient (Thomas Dekker).
Even the judge who finally decides the case (Joan Cusack) is saddled with a tear-jerking back-story.
Baldwin is, in fact, the only principal actor who doesn’t cry — although he does suffer a medical crisis.
The sad thing is all this overkill really wasn’t necessary. It distracts from the performances, which are fine across the board except for Diaz.
Working well outside her comfort zone as an actress, Diaz is fairly shrill and one-note until near the end of the movie.
I teared up exactly once watching “My Sister’s Keeper.” It was during the understated deathbed scene, which is utterly true to my own experiences in this area.
MY SISTER’S KEEPER
Suds and tears. Running time: 107 minutes. Rated PG- 13 (dying teenager, disturbing images, sensuality, teen drinking). At the Empire, the Lincoln Square, the Battery Park City, others.