My Sister’s Keeper

Cameron Diaz and Jason Patric play Sara and Brian, a loving couple whose lives are turned upside down when their two-year-old daughter Kate is diagnosed with leukaemia. They have another girl, Anna, who, as a genetic match, is able to help her elder sister with her treatment for the illness. That is until she's 11, when Anna gets fed up with her medical responsibilities and hires a lawyer to fight her case.

Nigel Andrews, Financial Times: The topic is so serious it could have been treated either of two ways: dead straight as docudrama, letting the problem punch its own weight; or high-octane as melodrama, filling our tank till the numbers stop turning. Nick Cassavetes opts for the second, but never turns off the pump. By the end we are screaming to yank our engines away from the forecourt as fuel spills - all that piano music, that gilded lighting, those glycerine tears - threatening a pyre of sense, sensibility and supersensitive subject choice. (Verdict: two stars out of five)

Wendy Ide, the Times: Based on Jodi Picoult's bestselling novel about a child with cancer, My Sister's Keeper is about as subtle as a mugging. It's a tearjerker that extorts its emotional cost with soft focus slow-mo shots of familial joy juxtaposed with photogenic anguish. Its director, Nick Cassavetes, would probably slaughter a puppy on camera if he thought it would milk a few more sobs from the audience. (Verdict: one star out of five)

Peter Bradshaw, the Guardian: For those of you keen to undergo a 109-minute soft-focus Calvary of empathy, aspirational lifestyle choices and upscale family values with a tastefully rendered terminal illness, this is a total must. Some films have certificates like U or PG; this one should be OMG with a row of teardrops and frowny-face emoticons. (Verdict: one star out of five) ·