Michelle Pfeiffer and Sean Penn give career-defining performances in this humorous and heart-warming film about a mentally-challenged father who enlists the aid of a high-powered attorney to help him regain custody of his daughter. An all-star supporting cast and a spectacular soundtrack complete this unforgettable story of life, love and laughter.
DVD Features: Audio Commentary:Filmmaker Commentary - With Director / Co-screenwriter Jessie Nelson DVD ROM Features:Script-to-Screen Link to Original Website Hot Spot Deleted Scenes:Deleted and Alternate Scenes with optional Director commentary Documentary:Original Documentary: Becoming Sam Other:Theatrical Press Kit DTS sound Theatrical Trailer
I Am Sam makes you laugh, cry, and recoil all at the same time. Perhaps no other film of recent memory has epitomized the shameless sentimentality of Hollywood as succinctly as director and screenwriter Jessie Nelson's story of a mentally challenged man fighting to retain custody of his 7-year-old daughter. Sam (Sean Penn), who has the mental age of 7, wipes down tables at a Los Angeles Starbucks and takes good care of his daughter Lucy, who was left with him shortly after birth by a homeless woman. Sam has gotten by just fine with a little help from his friends, including his eccentric neighbor (Diane Wiest) and a lovable group of similarly challenged friends, but a series of misunderstandings leaves Sam fighting to get Lucy back from the state. Sam's lawyer, Rita Harrison (Michelle Pfeiffer), is an overly ambitious woman whose life is soon transformed by proximity to Sam's brimming humanity. Sean Penn is, as usual, wholeheartedly committed to his role and turns in an admirable, if overtly affected performance. However, I Am Sam, with all its earnest charm, reaches an emblematic low when Sam, a character apparently devoid of any authentic sentiment, delivers a courtroom speech memorized from Kramer vs. Kramer as the film's finale. --Fionn Meade
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
At least a whole box of tissues...:
What a movie! The themes of love and loss, the underdog who wins in the end. The bullies who torment the sweet underdog are the stuff of legend. This movie is full of archetypal images. But mostly it is about love! All You Need Is Love! Gonna keep this short and sweet because lots of other people have already reviewed it. 1. The acting is wonderful
2. The script is good as well, obviously fairly unrealistic
3. It is a real feel good movie
4. I fell in love with Sam when... more info
Dakota's auspicious debut:
Films about the developmentally disabled often border on ridiculous and demeaning. There are a few exceptions: Cuckoo's Nest & Rain Man immediately come to mind, and not to forget What's Eating Gilbert Grape (where Leonardo was nothing short of flawless). I Am Sam is such a film, with Sean Penn giving a thorough, heart-felt (and highly lauded) performance. There are issues, however, and the only time he really has to prove his 7-year old mentality is the perfectly uncomfortable temper tantrum he has at... more info
The magnificent performances help dull the films preposterousness...:
To say that `I am Sam' is not moving, stirring and heartbreaking would be a bold faced lie. Truth be told, this movie made me bawl, and I am not ashamed to say that. To say that this is an accurate depiction of the challenges of the mentally handicapped would also be a bold faced lie, for `I am Sam' is really a text book example of how Hollywood always tends to sink its sentimental claws into everything that is honest and pure. Instead of delivering a plausible or even remotely relatable account, `I am Sam'... more info
Sweet and sour:
This is the most shamelessly cloying movie I have yet seen. A man with the mental capacity of a 7-year-old can't possibly raise a child, period, end of subject. This would be an amazing enough story if only to show how such a man could take care of himself, living more or less independently. But not only is Sam able to take care of himself, working at a minimum wage job and living in a nice apartment, he is also able to raise a child and somehow afford all the expenses. Apparently there is a lot I could... more info
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