I Am Sam Review
by Bob Bloom (bobbloom AT iquest DOT net)January 25th, 2002
I AM SAM (2001) 2 stars out of 4. Starring Sean Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dianne Weist, Dakota Fanning, Richard Schiff, Loretta Devine, Doug Hutchison and Laura Dern. Music by John Powell. Written by Kristine Johnson & Jessie Nelson. Directed by Jessie Nelson. Rated PG-13. Running time: 124 minutes.
An earnest performance by Sean Penn plus a wonderful score mainly consisting of Beatles’ covers are all that keep I Am Sam from drowning in an ocean of nauseating clichés.
Something doesn’t sit right in this story about a mentally handicapped father and his struggle to retain custody of his 7-year-old daughter.
Perhaps, it’s a sense of familiarity as all the characters seem like carbon copies from other movies; or maybe the way the filmmakers stack the deck in Sam’s favor puts you off.
Whatever the shortcomings, I Am Sam feels phony and contrived. The movie plays out as if screenwriters Kristine Johnson and Jessie Nelson, who also directed, held marathon screening sessions of Rain Man and Kramer vs. Kramer then decided to combine the two.
Every stereotypical situation and character you can imagine pops up somewhere in the movie.
Sam’s reluctant lawyer, Rita (Michelle Pfeiffer), is a hard-driven woman with a failed marriage. She has trouble connecting with her child. But because of Sam's simplicity and good nature she grows closer to her son.
We have the understanding social worker who bends over backwards to try to keep Sam and his daughter, Lucy (as in “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds”) together; the sympathetic foster mother (Laura Dern) who sacrifices her happiness to help Sam and Lucy; Sam’s cadre of mentally challenged friends who are his morale boosters; and the young, precocious Lucy (Dakota Fanning) who is wiser than her 7 years.
The scales are weighted so emotionally heavy in Sam’s favor that Johnson and Nelson must continually create bogus obstacles to build any tension before the judge’s ruling.
Penn works so hard, though, that he makes it difficult to really dislike the movie. You admire Sam’s persistence, the love and concern he lavishes upon Lucy, his determination to do whatever is necessary to keep her.
At a few points Penn sounds like a Dustin Hoffman impressionist doing Rain Man, but for most of the picture he carries off his character with realistic intensity. In one sequence Sam scolds Lucy for her refusal to continue learning to read because she does not want to become smarter than her father.
Another sequence shows Sam breaking down in court as he is overwhelmed by the proceedings and the hammering cross-examination from a determined child advocate (The West Wing’s Richard Schiff).
What really unifies I Am Sam is the soundtrack of Beatles songs melded with Sam’s knowledge of the Fab Four. Sam relates almost everything in life to a Beatles tune or an incident in the lives of one of the group.
Beatles fans will enjoy the movie for the music alone. Covers of “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” “Strawberry Fields Forever,” “Across the Universe” and “You've Got to Hide Your Love Away” assist in propelling the story.
However, more substance, more emphasis on characters would have aided I Am Sam more than any recording.
I Am Sam works in spurts, but the whole lacks any emotional resonance. Its sensibilities appear hollow, they lack force and conviction. At too many junctures I Am Sam goes nowhere, man.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] or at [email protected]. Other reviews by Bloom can be found at www.jconline.com by clicking on golafayette. Bloom's reviews also can be found on the Web at the Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
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