MovieChat Forums > My Sister's Keeper (2009) Discussion > Trite and melodramatic

Trite and melodramatic

posted 12 years ago by jollygood333
3 replies | jump to latest

First I have to preface this with saying I had a horrible movie watching experience with this. My friend and I were trying to decide what to watch and I had been meaning to watch this for a long time and he kept bitching that he hates Cameron Diaz and cancer movies but I got him to sit through it.

And oh my god. The moments of prolonged slo mo set to sad piano ballads was too much. The narrative voice overs from each of the characters felt not only artificial and cliched but they were all over the place. And that scrap book-- need I say more? I don't want to go over every melodramatic, unimaginative line but Abigail Breslin'a final monologue while they're in that place that they vacation at every year (eye roll) was pretty dull and interchangeable.

But anyway, I really had high hopes for this movie because I'd heard good things and I love Diaz and Breslin -- but it was just awful. Awful. The beach scene particularly sticks out in my mind -- slow mo of the kids feeding the birds, close ups of Katie with the sun on her face, and then of course-- Mom shows up and it's all a portrait.

And what was worse was that my friend was being a douche the whole time and I usually would prove him wrong with a good movie but this was even more awful than expected. I would recommend Now Is Good as a cancer movie for people who feel the same as I did about this. It's worlds better IMO.

[–] ericjstickel-509-737059 12 years ago

Why do you feel that the beach scene was so bad? I thought it was a very touching moment in the movie. I believe it was trying to show how the simplest things in life are the best.

I believe that the people who didn't enjoy this movie probably haven't had a personal experience with a loved one becoming very sick. But I know I am making an assumption and could be wrong.

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Goatlips 11 years ago

'Trite and melodramatic' seems to be the kind of film you actually should've been watching with your boyfriend. Something about one man single-handedly saving America from 'terrorists'!
This film is not trite as studios rarely make films about death - '90%' are like what I described above. It's not as melodramatic as these events would be IRL either.
This film is the type to watch alone - it'd be weird as hell to watch with others - most films are! It's like when you listen to cheesy love songs - you can't drive a car full of people whilst all listening to 'The Glory of Love' by Peter Cetera, no matter how great that song is.
The story was good, albeit growing a sibling as a donor was a bit futuristic, and the acting was great. Diaz being so horrible was a clever way help the audience accept the end too - which even managed to have a twist, which makes a change from most films which have to just roll the credits to make you realise they've finally come to the inevitable conclusion. 7/10 is a good score - far more of a film than Django Unchained (8.5/10! The Facebook kiddies must've invaded IMDb) which is a nothing film. This film's metacritic score of 51/100 is a joke.
Good little film - Breslin was great as usual and Diaz showed that she's a much better dramatic actress than she is a comedy one. Kind of a high class TVM that housewives/jobless get engrossed in during the day - which often have far more substance than most cinema releases, aimed at the brain dead Yank target audience.