Enjoying the sunshine? Having a great holiday? Don't worry... Auntie Cameron's here to make you feel like the world's ended. In other words, that poster where she's laughing at something Abigail Breslin has hilariously said, isn't really like the film.
In the realm of cancer movies, 'My Sister's Keeper' is so upsetting it makes 'Stepmom' look like 'Mamma Mia!'. It makes 'Terms Of Endearment' look like 'Dude, Where's My Car?'. It's the movie equivalent of an Eva Cassidy double album, like hearing her plinky-plonk version of 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' on repeat for 100 mins (okay, enough comparisons - Ed).
Shame on me for loving (almost) every second of its sugar-soaked, schmaltzy soppiness. Cameron D - as I believe Destiny's Child like to call her - is rather great as the mother of a girl with leukemia. Serious balls. It nearly made me forget about 'What Happens In Vegas'. Nearly.
And director Nick 'The Notebook' Cassavettes - who Dr Kermode tells me EVERY TIME he has a film out, used to work in "erotic thrillers" - isn't afraid to show you the blood, sweat and vomit associated with terminal illness. Hardly a laugh riot, but that's kinda the point.
There are too many "sad and emotional" songs on the soundtrack. 13 in fact, which over 1 hour 40 works out at about one every 8 minutes. By the time Jeff Buckley pipes up over the end credits you do feel like someone has just shot your dog.
But in a Summer so full of cold, FX-laden shoot-outs, it was actually really refreshing to see something so full of raw, human emotion. Real-ish people with real problems.
