Video/DVD Review: I am Sam
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What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this movie has the requisite one
f-word, now standard in PG-13 movies, and some other mild
language. There is a stong reference to adultery. Lucy's mother
is a homeless woman who deserts her after she is born. Some
children (and adults) will find the custody conflicts and
discussion of parenting issues upsetting.
Families can talk about what Sam should do to give Lucy
everything she needs. What problems are they likely to have as
she gets older? What did Rita learn from Sam, and why was it
only Sam who could teach it to her? A number of the people in
the movie struggle with parenting issues -- there has never
been a court proceeding in history that permitted such
discussion of the family lives of all the participants and
witnesses. How do you see those struggles in the families
around you?
In I AM SAM, Sam Dawson, a retarded man who wipes the tables at Starbucks, decides to fight for custody of his daughter, Lucy (Dakota Fanning). Although Lucy's mother, a homeless woman, leaves right after Lucy is born, Sam does just fine at first, with help from an agoraphobic neighbor (Dianne Wiest). Sam also gets some help from an entourage of retarded pals, and all goes along pretty well until Lucy, at age seven, begins to surpass Sam intellectually. When Family Protective Services try to take Lucy away, Sam gets intense lawyer Rita Harrison (Michelle Pfeiffer) to help him. And sure enough, she learns from Sam to take time to smell the roses and play with her own son.
If only the filmmakers had trusted the material and the audience a little more, then I am Sam would not feel so manipulative and dishonest. But by making anyone who thinks that maybe a child needs more than a retarded parent can provide look like a monster, they turn the characters into cardboard. The glowing last scene, with Sam performing in a role that is clearly beyond what he has been shown to be capable of, is just phony. Yeah, I cried, but I was annoyed about it.
But Sean Penn gives a first-rate performance here, and Michelle Pfeiffer holds her own. In smaller parts, Dianne Wiest, Richard Schiff, Mary Steenburgen, and Laura Dern are all very fine as well, and the soundtrack of Beatles songs recorded by some of today's best artists, is a genuine treat. The real miracle of the movie, though, is tiny Dakota Fanning, who gives a performance of such sincerity, subtlety, and delicacy that she almost carries the entire movie herself.
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