Sam

I saw this on Amazon Prime Movies, and while I'm glad I didn't pay to see this, I am glad it's getting some exposure. I can't think of one aspect of this film that hasn't been done better by earlier films. The exception is the female lead. Natalie Knepp takes what seems like an ambitious student film and gives it professional polish and a genuinely likable character. No easy feat considering the clunky cliches and cartoonish characters. I really don't want to savage this film. It was obviously a passion project for at least some of the folks involved. It's heart is in the right place, even if it does seem like am ambitious student film rom-com that tries but can't get out of its own way. I'm glad I saw it, because it put Ms Knepp on my radar. I haven't been this surprised and impressed by a performer since I first set eyes on Parker Posey in House of Lies. Sam introduced me to Natalie Knepp, whose resume needs to be much larger than it currently is. Still, what other titles I was able to track down confirm my positive first impression. Watch this film with low expectations. It's not as bad as some other reviews claim. It may not be original, or have witty dialog, clever situations and richly drawn characters, but it's not entirely without charms. Notably the fully committed performance and empathetic charisma of its lead. In the end, I'm glad I watched it.

The premise is hardly original, but it is developed here in a competent, direct and uplifting way.

Many of the scenes and much of the characterization are definitely on the unsubtle side, but I think that works well in the end. The characters are well established and grow in interesting and convincing ways. I particularly liked the interactions between Margaret and Samantha.

I've given this movie one more star than I might otherwise have because, despite its flaws, I really enjoyed this one a lot.

The only reason I saw this movie in the first place is because after watching Goodbye Charlie (1964) I wanted to see all the remakes for comparison. I found and watched three true remakes and eight similarly premised movies that I wouldn't call remakes. Of this dozen movies (including the original), I liked Sam the best by far. Natalie Knepp really sold the female version of the main character as a man suddenly in a woman's body. What's more she sold it while making the role likeable. And, she made her basically despicable character extremely amusing and likeable despite her flaws. It was easy to care how things turned out for her. Sein Kleier, Sara Scott, and Brock Harris were particularly good in their roles as well. And, none of the acting was bad. But, Natalie was the true stand-out.

That all being said, I can't help but find fault as well. The office environment, while played for laughs, is unbelievable in this day and age. Seymour and Lulu are just a bit too silly. While Brock Harris had his character pegged, he really needed to have the same hair and eye color as Natalie for one of the plot points to work.

The movie is unrated, but I would mostly call it PG13. Older kids should enjoy it safely. There is some profanity, but it's infrequent compared to a lot of movies.

Simple story and very enjoyable. My first time seeing Natalie Knepp. And she was good.

This film starts incredibly slowly. The camera work and lighting are good, but if it weren't for that, it would play like a college film project. The dialogue is slow, and predictable, with unnecessary pauses and characters feeling very 2 dimensional. The pacing was painful at the beginning, which had me reaching for the remote just looking for a scene change. Once Natalie enters the picture however, the energy improves, though the pace and timing never fully recover.

Fortunately Natalie's energy and interesting character choices made this film entertaining enough (at least relative the the price I paid) to see the movie through to the end.

In the end, despite its reasonable-budget looking visual style, a well acted female lead, and beautiful cityscape cinematography worthy of a much better production, this movie is a slow, occasionally funny, but largely forgettable comedy that will have you wondering what else you could have done with the last 2 hours of your life.