An eleven-year-old girl,”engineered” in a petri dish to be a genetic match for her leukemic older sister, sues her parents for “medical emancipation” – a recipe for a Lifetime Channel movie, with an extra cup of butter in Caleb Deschanel’s lighting. Outside of the never-say-die mother, the drama is designed for minimum stickiness and maximum lubrication. Indeed, the dilemma could have been cleared up with a simple family conference in lieu of a court date. Compared with the other tearjerking tactics, the interlude of teen romance between the sick sister and a fellow cancer patient is persuasively gentle. With Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin, Sofia Vassilieva, Jason Patric, Alec Baldwin, Thomas Dekker, and Joan Cusack; directed by Nick Cassavetes. (2009) — Duncan Shepherd
This movie is not currently in theaters.