Sam je suis Sam

It is with a great feeling of disappointment that I write this negative commentary on the movie, I am Sam.

The movie starts off reminiscent of Rain Man. The obsessive-compulsive traits of autism are apparent as Sean Penn's character; Sam guides his fingers through the packets of Equal and Sugar Twin separating them into their own groups.

We then learn that Sam works at Starbucks and before we have a chance to get to know him we're off to a hospital where a woman who we are never introduced to is giving birth to the other lead character, Sam's daughter, Lucy. We are never given any more information about this woman.

Somehow Sam manages to raise this child some help from his neighbour who I assume is agoraphobic, but we never really know for sure. Anyway, after a series of circumstantial events, Lucy is taken from Sam by the social workers and Sam is forced to look for a lawyer (Michelle Pfeiffer) who will argue his case to keep Lucy in his care.

Sean Penn's portrayal a mentally disabled person is very good, but what sort of mental illness does he have? Is he autistic? How severe is it? One minute, Sam is answering questions by relating their answers to obscure Beatles lyrics and the next, he is losing his patience and causing a scene in a restaurant that doesn't have his pancakes on the menu. I am no expert on mental illness, but would someone that has Sam's condition be able to make connections his life and the Beatles song, "Michelle"?

I also had a problem with the fact that just because Sam is sweet and good and able to live independently that we should by default assume that he is the best person to raise Lucy. The social workers and layers are portrayed as terrible people with no other goal than to tear a happy family apart.

I believe this movie was intended to display mentally disabled people in a different light, and to show that there are many things that mentally disabled people can do, but it failed. Because the antagonists and so many elements of the movie were so unrealistic, it doesn't convince the audience that, in the real world, a person like Sam could actually raise a child.

I have to confess off the top that I am not and never have been a particular fan of Sean Penn. I have no specific criticism to make of him; as an actor he simply doesn't appeal to me. Because of that bias I approached this movie with low expectations. The story of a mentally handicapped man fighting for custody of his seven year old daughter sounded intriguing, but it starred Penn. But what a pleasant surprise this movie turned out to be!

Penn is actually very good in this role. He brings a realism to the character of Sam Dawson, and portrays him sensitively and with real emotion. In fact, I thought the only performance that was better than Penn's came not from Michelle Pfeiffer (who disappointed me a bit, actually) but rather from little Dakota Fanning as Sam's daughter Lucy. She seemed so natural in this role, and I would hope that we see more of her in the years to come. Pfeiffer, on the other hand, (as Sam's lawyer Rita Harrison) just didn't carry the role off that well, and even the courtroom scenes to me lacked the tension one would have expected from such an emotionally-laden issue.

The movie weakens in the last little bit, going for the sappy (and highly unrealistic) ending - unrealistic particularly in the way Lucy's foster mother (Laura Dern) ends up handling the situation.

Having said that, I still enjoyed this movie very much. It's raised my assessment of Sean Penn's acting abilities and I would recommend it to others and would watch it again.

7/10

In an eye opening performance, Sean Penn plays mentally challenged Sam. It was the 2001 Academy Awards when I began to doubt the Oscars because Sean Penn was robbed of the Best Actor category. I really believed at the time, that Sean Penn was mentally challenged. He was way more deserving of the award than Denzel.

This is one film that can tug your heart strings and have your eyes flooded with tears. It's powered by the performances of Sean Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer and Dakota Fanning. Dakota has an innate ability to use her big beautiful eyes to induce crying. Michelle can steal a moment from Sean in any scene with her beautifully delivered words.

The story of fighting for custody of his daughter is one for all ages and it's a tragic story to be told but can captivate any audience and especially all mothers and fathers out there. When you finish watching, you'll have red eyes from wiping away those tears. You'll also be in a mood to start watching more movies containing Sean Penn.

If you've never seen a Sean Penn film before this, you'll believe that he is truly handicapped. Sean Penn's commitment to this role is accounted for six months of research on mentally challenged people. I'm not knocking Denzel Washington as an actor, as he's supremely talented. But Sean Penn has an uncanny ability to make you believe he is not playing a character of Sam, but is the character of Sam.

The character of Sam, is not inspiring because he is handicapped. It's due to how loving he is and how much fighting he does to get his daughter back and make her happy that makes Sam inspiring. Kids can watch this movie, and parents will enjoy it most of all. It's not a movie that should be missed by anyone. There's no reason to dislike, I Am Sam.

In 'Rain Man', Dustin Hoffman gave the best portrayal I have ever seen of a mentally disturbed person, but Sean Penn came very close here. He was quite convincing but somewhat funnier. With Hoffman, I never quite knew when he was supposed to be funny, but with Penn there were many funny moments that I felt okay about laughing at. And I just had to like the character.

I've heard so many good things about Dakota Fanning, and now I see for myself. She's great.

The actors playing Sam's friends also seemed very convincing, one in particular. I didn't catch his name, but he wore glasses and I think he must have really been mentally disabled. The others could have been but might just have been acting.

MIchelle Pfeiffer was very good also, and gorgeous. And Richard Schiff was likable as the lawyer on the other side of Sam's case. In fact, I didn't see those who were against Sam as evil. They just had Lucy's best interests in mind. But I wanted Sam to win.

While it is true this may have been done before, I think this movie offered unique twists and qualities other movies didn't have, and the performances were very good.

Sean Penn plays Sam, a mentally retarded man who has become a father to a bright beautiful baby girl. He has also become single on the same day because the girls mother ran off and left them. Sam does his best to raise her along with the assistance of his friends and everything is fine until the girl, Lucy, turns seven. Now she is equal if not greater on the intelligence scale and Social Services has taken her from her father for Lucy's own good. Same enlists the aid of Rita, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, a guilt-stricken mega-attorney who takes his case pro bono. Eventually Sam finds himself in a battle against Laura Dern who is playing a foster mother attempting to adopt Lucy for good. My wife had tears running down her face throughout this movie. Other women in the audience were sobbing during the movie. I didn't get it. I'm not saying the movie wasn't well done. It was. I'm not saying the actors didn't do a great job. They did but (and here is where I get in trouble at times) Sean Penn and Michelle Pfeiffer are both very well respected in their field and we tend to expect good performances from them. I will say the little girl bordered on phenomenal with her control.

All I can say is something wasn't hitting me on this one, and while I will admit that I didn't hate it and have seen many that were far worse, it just didn't move me one way or the other.