I used to own a restaurant where at night we would play a movie at 7pm. This used to be an effective gimmick to get people to come in and have a drink or a coffee in the evenings in Thailand. It doesn't really happen anymore but that is beside the point. We would play a wide variety in films but I remember that when we played this one, nearly everyone in the house would be struggling to keep their eyes dry. I have seen some 6 foot 5 dudes covered in muscle and tattoos rubbing their eyes during this one.

I don't want to give away too much of this film, or any of it really. But i will give the basics.

Anna Fitzgerald (Abigail Breslin) has a sister with terminal Leukemia and Anna has been serving as a blood match for donating tissue and blood for as long as she can remember in order to keep her sister alive. One day, out of the blue Anna hires a lawyer to make it impossible for her family to use her as a "tissue farm" anymore. Her monther (played by Cameron Diaz ) happens to be a lawyer and of course this causes some problems inside the family as her mother decides to be the attorney that fights her own daughter in court.

The story goes through a ton of flashbacks, and there are a lot of techniques used to make your misty-eyed and probably miss your family if you haven't seen them in a while. It also serves to put things into perspective for any "trials and tribulations" the we may feel we have in our own lives.

Nick Cassavetes excels as a director and doesn't only make sappy sad movies either. However, i think as the director of "the Notebook", i think he used a lot of the same techniques for this movie.

This movie made me misty-eyed years later (just now) simply by watching the trailer. I truly believe that if you don't find this movie touching that you don't have a soul. However, i can understand why the critics didn't jump all over this one because it didn't do anything terribly artsy - i guess. Whatever, I liked it a lot.