Directed by:
Jessie NelsonCinematography:
Elliot DavisComposer:
John PowellCast:
Sean Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dakota Fanning, Dianne Wiest, Loretta Devine, Richard Schiff, Laura Dern, Doug Hutchison, Ken Jenkins, Scott Paulin (more)VOD (2)
Plots(1)
A mentally retarded man fights for custody of his 7-year-old daughter, and in the process teaches his cold-hearted lawyer the value of love and family. (official distributor synopsis)
Videos (1)
Reviews (2)
Massive bollocks full of archaic emotional gestures and tasteless facial expressions, I was afraid it was something by Ron Howard at the turn of the millennium. Unexpectedly, the timeframe fits, only the director is different. However, it still holds true that this cheap and simplistic squeezing of emotions from the viewer is not something you will see just anywhere, and the overacting Michelle Pfeiffer, constantly shaking her head and tossing her pompous hairstyle, neither. The editor took a sick day too. To my surprise, Sean Penn saves the day – this typically masculine actor in such a delicate and sensitive role – hat off, his acting range is admirable.
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I like Sean Penn a lot. He isn’t afraid to go all out with very serious roles. And usually, the problem doesn’t lie with him but with the movie as a whole. For example, this piece named I Am Sam isn’t a bad movie at all. It just doesn’t take the serious topic to the extreme, doesn’t explain anything. It just threw Sean Penn into the role of a mentally deficient person, and he goes all out, but that which is happening around him has to be more or less overlooked by the viewer. Well, and so that I don’t praise only Sean, I have to say that Dakota Fanning and Michelle Pfeiffer were great in their roles as well. Only, there were too many court scenes during the 2 hours and 12 minutes and it also seemed to me that everything around the social services started happening way too late. After all, if Sam was capable of taking care of his child until she was 8 years old, why wouldn’t he be able to do it in the future?
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Gallery (85)
Photo © 2001 New Line Cinema
![I Am Sam - Photos](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/167/489/167489852_wnxs3g.jpg)
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