aarongrierson-79741
*WARNING - MASSIVE SPOILERS IN BOTH BOOK AND MOVIE AHEAD!!!*Well, we're watching this movie in school because we're talking about donor siblings. There were, give or take, 10 girls in my class, and I think all of them cried at some point. But I just sat there, mouth agape, wondering how this movie could be worse than "The Notebook".Its main problem is that it doesn't really follow the book at all. In the end of the book, Anna is involved in a car crash after winning her case and, while she is brain dead, her lawyer, turned attorney, makes an arrangement to give Kate her sister's kidney. Kate recovers but Anna dies. In the movie, Kate dies. There, that's it. Maybe they thought Anna's death in the book was too upsetting for the movie, and by all means I can understand that, but it's a core part of the book that Kate recovers. It would have given the movie a feel-good look, that cancer doesn't always equal a death sentence. Instead, they kill off Kate, and it doesn't feel right.Cameron Diaz isn't very convincing either. The movie seems much more interested in making you cry than giving a story that seems believable.All in all, this isn't the worst movie I have ever seen, but there are some very major flaws. I wouldn't recommend it if you're a big fan of the novel, because they botch it up here in the movie.
jogibs
Oh, geez. I finally got the time to watch this movie about 10 years after reading the wonderful, touching, surprising novel. The ending was changed, which ruined the beautiful, random twist to the entire story that is such a water mark of Jodi Piccoult. I am upset that I wasted my time, but would read the book again and again, as I would ALL of her novels. Take the time to read on this one. The acting was solid and if you don't care to read and like a "Beaches" or "Terms of Endearment" predictable ending, then this is for you. Cheers!
K K
I have been using IMDb for 8 years and this movie made me decide to register for the first time just to review it. Besides "speaking to your soul" and being extremely well acted by EVERYONE, the movie contains so many viewpoints of the same story, which gives it so much depth and you a feeling that you are watching several stories not just one.I appreciate the positive tunes throughout the movie in spite of the gloominess of the plot as is obvious from the very beginning of the movie. Cameron Diaz is extraordinary in this movie, I do not remember having seen her in any similar or similarly serious role. The flashbacks are done very intricately and the movie respects the intelligence of the viewer with little expected revelations and twists here and there. The only reason I gave it an 8 is because I'm a big fan of tough grading :)Beautiful, sad, joyful, hopeful, captivating, loved every minute of it.
sachisamster
I remember feeling in a similar way when I finished watching A Walk to Remember. The whole picture of death leaves us in tears and with the question of why did she have to die? Can people find any meaning to death? is it the end of existence? Anna ends saying that she hopes she will meet her sister again, is their another paradigm of existence after death? Is their anything wrong with the stand the mom took for her daughters protection? Do you feel that Kate should have fought more? What is the whole purpose of living? We are going to die someday. Is the quality of life measured by how long we live? Movies like this and Slumdog Millionaire makes me wonder if we end up with an emotional high and just forget about the fact that these things really happen. Does a portion of the profit gained by this movie go to treat cancer patients? The movie is based on a book by Jodi Picoult which ends differently..When Anna gets her emancipation she dies in a car crash and kidneys are anyway given away to Kate. I'm wondering why the story line was changed and Kate had to die. What if Anna didn't die of a car crash but died in the Kidney transplant operation. Maybe its too much of a tale to believe that she sacrificed her self for her sister. Sacrifice seems as something very unusual and makes us wonder why? Maybe because we don't how to respond to such love. What if someone underwent a punishment that we were supposed to go through or someone was wrongly accused and killed when I was the real culprit. How do we respond?
AD
