I am Sam (New Line Platinum Series)
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: 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 (Dakota Fanning), 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 (Dianne 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
Rating:  List Price: $ 14.98 Price: $ 3.90 More Dvd Products |
(out of 255 reviews)
Review by Nancy R. Katz for I am Sam (New Line Platinum Series)
Rating:
From the first moment I AM SAM began, I realized I was in for a rare movie treat. As part of a movie class I was fortunate to recently preview I AM SAM and find now, several weeks later that I am still as enthusiastic about this film as I was when I first saw it.Sean Penn, and I cannot say enough about his performance, plays Sam, a mentally challenged adult with the mental capacity of a 7 year old. We first see him working at Starbucks while he puts out sugar packets in an obsessive manner, calling out orders over and over and endearing himself to customers in his charming Sam manner. Suddenly, Sam is called away and we watch him enter a hospital and witness the birth of his daughter. Elated and awestruck, Sam names the baby girl Lucy, after the Beatle song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Unfortunately Lucy’s mother isn’t intersted in either Sam or Lucy and as they leave the hospital, with Lucy in Sam’s arms, simply runs away from them. Ill prepared and ill equipped to raise a child, Sam somehow managaes to bring up Lucy with the help of a kindly and eccentric neighbor played to perfection by Dianne Weist. As the years go by, we see glimpses of Lucy growing up as she plays with Sam, as they read Green Eggs and Ham together before bedtime, as Sam buys shoes with Lucy aided by his friends who are also mentally challenged and finally when Lucy begins school. And while I know realistically that Sam being capable of raising Lucy mostly on his own till she reaches grade school might be unlikely, Sean Penn as Sam is so loving and good with Lucy, that I truly wanted to believe this could happen. While it isn’t firmly established how Sam and Lucy manage to evade child welfare agencies all of this time, eventually these beauracratic agencies do become aware of Lucy’s situation and challenge Sam’s ability to care for her. Sam now must fight for Lucy as he never has had to do before. Confused and heartbroken, Sam initially finds a high powered lawyer played by Michelle Pfeiffer. But she wants no part of the case. Beset by a career which takes over her life, Michelle Pfeiffer’s character has a sullen young son at home and little to say to her husband. Eventually, though, she does take the case, is almost shamed into it by other lawyers in her firm. But in a remarkable twist of fate and and while helping Sam, she learns a great deal from him about parenting and unconditional love. What happens to Sam and Lucy as they are separated and the case is argued in court are memorable scenes filled with tremendous poignancy and deep emotions. For after all, who is truly fit to be a parent. Is love enough? Who does make a good parent? And most of all, what is in the best interest of Sam’s daughter, LucyAs an addition and complementing the tremendous perfomances of Sean Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer,Dianne Weist and Laura Dern Lucy played by Dakota Fanning, the movie inclues as background music many of the songs of the Beatles. And at various times the screenplay includes relevant lines and quotes which are fitting to the scenes. It was particualrly eerie watching this movie a few days after the death of George Harrison to hear Sam talk about the success of Harrison’s song, “Here Comes the Sun,” from the Abbey Road album. But what an appropriate comment I thought as the sun shined down on both Lucy and Sam as Sam ran around the soccer field with Lucy in his arms.I cannot praise this movie enough. While at times one couldn’t help but think of the movies Rainman and Kramer vs. Kramer, I AM SAM stands on its own as being a truly wonderful movie. I fully expect that Sean Penn will be nominated for many awards for his magnificent performance. I certainly hope he is acknowledged for this, a performance of a lifetime. If not I am confident that viewers like myself will never forget Sean Penn as Sam or this finely drawn character.
Review by Gunner for I am Sam (New Line Platinum Series)
Rating:
I Am Sam DVD
I Am Sam stars Sean Penn as a mentally challenged young man seeking custody of his daughter when it is obvious that he is not mentally capable of being a custodial parent. He bases his plea on the Beatles song “All you need is Love”.
Caution, a real tear jerker. Recommended for a mature audience.
Gunner April, 2008
Review by L. Patino for I am Sam (New Line Platinum Series)
Rating:
I was shown the film I am Sam in a class that i just finished down in LA. First off, the soundtrack is a definite must buy, as many recording artists cover beatles songs in a very tasteful manner. The film itself delivers high calibur performances from all of the leads and the supporting cast. I would be very surprised if sean penn doesn’t get an acadamy award nomination. Michelle pfieffer was also very good in the film, as was laura dern. This movie went straight for the heart and it was able to balance the serious moments with some light hearted moments. The young actress who played lucy was amazing in the film as well. I recommend this to anyone who wants to see a movie that will make you think. Think about what it means to be a good parent, and about the strength and spirit of love and how it transcends any handicap that we are born with or that we inflict upon ourselves. I can’t say enough great things about this movie, so go see it!
Review by Shashank Tripathi for I am Sam (New Line Platinum Series)
Rating:
“I am Sam” is replete with a jerky handheld finish, self-conscious art direction, the angst of the specially challenged, lots of opportunities to laugh and cry, terrific acting, and a marvelous Beatles-Plus soundtrack. The love that the entire cast and crew put into the project radiates from the scene and generates enough goodwill to forgive the occasionally languid pacing. Sean Penn’s nomination was absolutely well-deserved, and Dakota Fleming does a great job of Sam’s daughter. Some magnificent supporting turns by Laura Dern, Diane Wiest, Stanley DeSantis, and two actually mentally handicapped actors, help carry the somewhat airy/sappy script through some of its less credible moments. If you’re a heartless scrimp by nature and want action in your movies, you may want to skip it, but everyone else should have a decent feel-good time with this stirring drama.
Review by Steven Mason for I am Sam (New Line Platinum Series)
Rating:
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 learn from Sam!
The child is the best and the worst part of the story. She is so cute, so sweet, so intelligent, so wise, so affectionate, and so loyal that any parents watching her will melt in the fantasy that their own normal kids could be half as good. In one courtroom scene a witness testifies that the girl is so smart not in spite of her father’s shortcomings but because of his love and constancy. I suppose something can be said for always eating dinner at House of Pancakes and reading Green Eggs and Ham a hundred times each night.
The courtroom scenes were funny. Any witness expressing a concern for Sam’s ability to be a competent, responsible parent was discredited for some secret and devastating failing in her personal life. In other words, if normal parents make mistakes, get confused, and mess up then who’s to say that Sam, with the capacity of a 7-year-old, would do any worse? In fact he may do better.
Then there is the awkward scene when Sam’s beautiful lawyer Rita (Michelle Pfeiffer) puts a suit and tie on him and for a brief instant seems to feel enough attraction to consider a pro bono tryst. After all, her husband is cheating on her, so why not?
What I enjoyed most about the movie were the Beatles’ songs performed by various cover artists. But it’s a fantasy to think that to raise a child in Los Angeles “all you need is love.” If a 7-year-old attempts to be a single dad it would be more like helter-skelter.