Sorry, this movie sucks

Perfect cast and a good story

Don't listen to the negative reviews

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

I knew this film was about a man with severe learning difficulties who has a daughter, and I know the leading actor and actress, but I did not realise it got mixed to negative reviews, it was a bit surprising, but I had to see what I thought of it for myself. Basically in Los Angeles, Sam Dawson (Oscar nominated Sean Penn) is a man with autism, a developmental disability, following the abandonment by her mother, a homeless woman who "just needed a place to sleep", he becomes single father to his daughter, Lucy (Dakota Fanning). Despite his limitations, Sam is well-adjusted, with a job working at Starbucks, a supportive group of friends with developmental disabilities, and kind, agoraphobic neighbour Annie (Dianne Wiest) who takes care of Lucy when he cannot. Though Sam provides precocious Lucy with a loving and caring environment, she surpasses his mental ability, he has a mental age of 7, other children tease Lucy having a "retard" as a father, and she is too embarrassed to accept that she is more intellectually advanced than Sam. After Sam's parenting skills come into question and the authorities threaten to take Lucy away from him, Sam is advised by his friends to approach high-powered lawyer Rita Harrison (Michelle Pfeiffer). Rita has a reputation as being cold and unfeeling, due to a brusque manner, fast-paced schedule and difficult personal life, to prove to others that she is not heartless, Rita surprisingly agrees to take on Sam's case pro bono. As they work together to secure Sam's parental rights, Sam unwittingly helps Rita with her family problems, including encouraging her to leave her cheating husband and repairing her fractured relationship with her son. Sam and Rita share an emotional moment, both feeling that they have never felt good enough to solve their situations, they sob and hug each other. At the trial, Rita does everything she can to prove that Sam could be a good father to Lucy, but Sam breaks down following the counsel opposition that he is not capable of all responsibilities of being a father. After the trial, Lucy is put in foster care, residing in a home with Randy Carpenter (Laura Dern), who does everything she can to prove herself as her new "parent", while Sam is promoted and finds a new apartment in the neighbourhood. Lucy continually escapes from her room in the middle of the night to go to Sam's apartment, she tries to convince him that they should run away, but he returns her to the foster home each time. Randy realises she cannot give Lucy the same love that she has for Sam, the foster family decide ultimately not to go ahead with adopting Lucy, she will return her to Sam, Randy will tell the judge that Sam is a suitable and better parent for Lucy, they also make an arrangement that Randy will help raise her. The final scene takes place at a soccer game, Sam is refereeing and Lucy is playing, Randy and the foster family, Sam's friends and newly single Rita and her son are watching. Also starring Loretta Devine as Margaret Calgrove, Richard Schiff as Mr. Turner, Brad Allan Silverman as Brad, Mary Steenburgen as Dr. Blake, Joseph Rosenberg as Joe, Stanley DeSantis as Robert, The Green Mile's Doug Hutchison as Ifty and Ken Jenkins as Judge Philip McNeily. Penn is just about passable about the disabled man with a passion for Beatles music, but it is obvious this performance is for vanity, Pfeiffer is a little stereotypical as the lawyer who learns life lessons through helping her innocent client, and Fanning making her big screen debut is alright. You could argue this portrait of mental illness is offensive, inaccurate and even unhelpful, the script is overly sentimental, it is only mildly funny in moments, maybe for the wrong reasons, and it is perhaps a little too long, you could just shun it is Kramer vs. Kramer meets Forrest Gump, or Rain Man, but I went with it, a sort of uncomfortable but not completely awful comedy drama. Adequate!

I watched this movie as a child and already at 8 years old, I fell in love with it. Rewatching it at 18 impacted me even more. The acting is amazing. The story line is amazing. The way Sam makes changes everyone throughout the movie by simply being their friend is amazing. This film continues to warm my heart and make me cry. This is one I will show my kids.

After waiting several years to see this film--all the while hoping for a thoughtful handling of its tough subject-- I was left wondering what went wrong. I have great empathy for films about challenged people coming to terms with their situations but, when a writer and director play fully on the viewers emotionalism it reduces the work to mere manipulation. If you want to see what it looks like when done better try finding "Charly" '68 ~ where Cliff Robertson deservedly won the academy award for his fine interpretation - along with a script offering more depth. While Sean Penn can be OK, he can often be painful - here, he is OK but the material is simply unbelievable.It's also hard to believe that Cinematographer Elliot Davis allowed his name to be left on the credits. There are sections where the sloppy, single hand held camera shots rival some of the worst to be seen in a 'mainstream' movie - the jerky movements and annoyingly bad use of the zoom lens made me feel so nauseous that watching to the end became a complete struggle. Judging from the blatant product placement throughout - it looks like the producers may have ended up with a comparatively small financial outlay. What could and should have been a warm, intelligent character study has been given a somewhat sentimentalized, if not patronizing, how-not-to- do-it Hollywood treatment - while also perhaps lacking a degree of genuine integrity. The end result looks like a let's try playing it to the hilt and see if any awards might just get handed out. And predictably some were - but not quite what was hoped for.Michelle Pfeiffer at times looks a little embarrassed with her lines as well as certain situations in her role as a successful high priced lawyer and, can we truly believe this woman doesn't have anyone knocking on her door? - perhaps this situation might have played more convincingly if the always reliable Laura Dern role was reversed. While young Dakota Fanning is marvelous her lines are far too mature for her cute six year old. Considering what it might have been with better handling this generally comes over as a bit of a contrivance. Those looking for a feel good show who don't necessarily want to think too much about their movies will enjoy it - others could possibly be more than a little disappointed. We've sure seen worse but this should have been better. Please don't play it again Sam...

I Am Sam is a very inspiring tale and an emotional movie that can be hard to watch at times due to the subject matter. Along with such films like What's Eating Gilbert Grape, this film tackles a very tough subject in mental illness and it creates a theme about how anyone can love, even if the person has a mental capacity of a seven-year-old. Sean Penn is at his best here as he delivers another fine performance, even if his performance is questionably full-fledged. This film is about a man named Sam who has the mental capacity of a seven-ear-old, works at Starbucks, and is obsessed with the Beatles. One day, a homeless woman gives birth to a girl with Sam as the father. The state fears that he is incompetent as a father and take his daughter away from him. Now Sam enlists the help of a hotshot lawyer named Rita to help him win the case. As said before, Sean Penn delivers a magnificent performance. People have questioned his performance, but the purpose of acting is to become a different character and that is exactly what Sean Penn did. Michelle Pfieffer delivers a strong performance as the lawyer, Rita who learns the lessons of love along the way. Dakota Fanning musters a strong, natural performance as Sam's daughter. Finally, Laura Dern does a good job as the foster mother. Overall, I Am Sam is the kind of film that teaches people to love all over again. If you have any children, remember to say how much you love them. This is a drama that could take place in reality, thus giving the movie even more of an emotional bite. A very good, powerful movie thanks to Sean Penn's effective performance. My Grade: A