I Am Sam
Movie Review
"I Am Sam"
Review by Eric D. Snider
Grade: C-
Rating: PG-13
Released: Friday, December 28, 2001
Directed by:
Cast:
Some movies melt your heart. "I Am Sam" microwaves it. Rather than go the long way around to your emotions -- you know, with sympathetic characters and good writing -- it uses movie shortcuts like retarded people and cute kids. Put those in a movie, and the tears are guaranteed, regardless of how clumsy or inept the movie is.
"I Am Sam" is about a retarded adult named Sam (Sean Penn) who fathered a child seven years ago and has raised her on his own, thanks to the mother walking out on him almost immediately after giving birth. The little girl is Lucy (Dakota Fanning), and if she's not just the cutest thing in the world, then I don't know what is. They have a sweet father-daughter relationship, and Lucy is only mildly concerned that, at 7 years old, she has the same mental capacity as her daddy.
Alas, the courts feel otherwise. Unless he can prove he's a competent father, Sam will lose Lucy. Lucky for him, a high-powered attorney named Rita (Michelle Pfeiffer) is guilted by her colleagues into taking his case for free, but she has her work cut out for her. All of Sam's friends are mentally challenged, too, which makes them less than ideal on the witness stand. His only non-retarded acquaintance is Annie (Dianne Wiest), and she's agoraphobic and won't leave the house.
The movie is smug, bent on using the Enlightened Retarded Guy to show us the error of our ways. Sure, he's retarded, but at least he's devoted to his daughter -- which is more than you can say for the endless parade of contrasting examples the movie sets up for us. (One guy keeps correcting his son during a classroom presentation, a divorcing couple argues over which partner should be stuck with the kid, Rita herself doesn't spend enough time with her son -- and so on.)
And consider this: In the movie, anyone who even raises the idea that maybe a retarded man with a part-time job and no spouse is not the ideal parent is made out to be an unfeeling villain. Shame on you for even thinking such a thing!
Sean Penn gives more of an imitation (albeit a good one) than a performance, while Michelle Pfeiffer is embarrassingly flustered and high-strung as the lawyer. Little Dakota Fanning yanks the heartstrings like she's starting a lawnmower.
Writer/director Jessie Nelson wrote the equally maudlin "Stepmom," and her work on "I Am Sam" is no improvement. It is a film calculated to MAKE YOU CRY. If you like being manipulated in obvious ways, go for it.
Grade: C-
Rated PG-13, one harsh profanity and some other mild profanity
Copyright © Eric D. Snider.
This work may not be transmitted via the Internet, nor reproduced in any other way, without written consent from Eric D. Snider.
This item has 3 comments
February 15, 2009 at 7:03 am
It irritated me to no end that this handicapped guy was allowed to take his daughter back when it was obvious that he was utterly incapable of taking care of her. Stupid American films. There must be a law somewhere stating that the Protaganast is always right and will always get what he wants, regardless of the danger, damage and pain it will cause other people.
I felt fairly good about this movie until the last 20 minutes when he gets his daughter back.
July 30, 2009 at 3:35 pm
I was surprised that Sam was somehow able to raise his daughter alone for the first seven years, which can be the hardest, and it seemed like his developmental level fluctuated throughout the film. Sometimes he seemed really high-functioning, and sometimes not-so-much during other times. The real part that bothered me is when he had the public tantrum at Bob's Big Boy simply over the fact that they didn't have regular pancakes. I could see this happening with a more severely challenged adult, but surely not one who is able to get around in public, work a job, live independently, and take care of a young daughter as well.
August 5, 2009 at 7:41 pm
I wanted to like this movie. The movie has a good premise- a mentally handicapped man raising his daughter- and a good message- people with disabilities are people too. The problem I have with this movie is that I have a very difficult time believing that HIS (Sean Penn's) particular character could successfully raise a child with no family assistance and virtually no outside support. The movie takes a complex issue and turns it into a black and white situation where anyone who questions the protagonist's ability to successfully parent to be a person incapable of empathy. The problem is that yes Sam loves his daughter and vice versa, the sad reality is that without a strong social network at minimum, Sam CANNOT single handily raise his daughter. You don't have to be Bill Gates or Albert Einstein to raise a child, but you do have to have a good deal of money and intelligence to balance out the love. Love is the most important thing, but love ALONE is not enough. This film's inability to acknowledge that sinks it in my eyes.