Bring tissues. Lots of them. Even if you’ve read this tear-jerker by popular author Jody Picoult and have a good idea of what’s happening and why, you’re still going to sob like your puppy just ran away. Yes, even you, you big, burly, bacon-eating, rugby-loving manly man. And it’s not because the adult lead, Cameron Diaz, is such a superb actor. As a matter of fact, she’s a bit over her head and you’ll still cry me a river.

Diaz plays Sara Fitzgerald, the mother of three children: the oldest, a son Jesse (Evan Eillison), has sort of fallen by the wayside because of the demands of the other two: the middle child, Kate, (Sofia Vasilieva from The Medium), born with a rare form of leukemia: and the youngest, Anna, (Abigail Breslin) a genetically designed child born and bred to be a donor to her older sister. Jason Patric plays the brood’s father, Alec Baldwin is Anna’s slick attorney, and Joan Cusack plays the judge who must rule on Anna’s plea for “medical emancipation” from her parents, so she will no longer have to go through the torturous process of donating blood, bone marrow and other body parts to prolong her sister’s life. None of the characters are as they seem on the surface. All have histories and back stories that are wide and deep.

The story is, at one time or another, told from each character’s perspective, as it was in the book. Picoult and director Nick Cassavetes collaborated with Jeremy Leven on the script, and managed to keep the story from being syrupy and maudlin, although the ending has been changed substantially from the book. Those who haven’t read it will not miss the bizarre jolt, and those who have read it will understand why it could never work in a movie made by a major studio, for general audiences. Without overt manipulation, My Sister’s Keeper manages to be moving, and even emotionally cathartic. Ladies, don’t forget the waterproof mascara, and gentlemen, don’t forget the Visine so you can duck into the bathroom and use it before anyone realizes you were a blubbering baby throughout the film.

Rated PG-13

–Lisa Johnson Mandell