In his Oscar nominated Best Actor role Sean Penn plays ‘Sam’, a mentally retarded man who must fight to retain custody of his 7-year old daughter. With a hit soundtrack featuring classic Beatles covers, ‘I Am Sam’. Co-stars Michelle Pfeiffer (What Lies Beneath), Dianne Wiest (The Horse Whisperer), Laura Dern (Jurassic Park) and 2001 Screen Actors nominee Dakota Fanning (Trapped)
Synopsis
With a hit soundtrack featuring classic Beatles' covers by Heather Nova, The Black Crowes, Sarah McLachlan, Ben Harper, Nick Cave and more.Sam Dawson (Sean Penn) is a developmentally disabled adult who has been singularly raising his daughter, Lucy for all of her seven years. Sam provides a fun and loving environment for Lucy, but it soon becomes apparent that she is intellectually surpassing him. When she begins intentionally stunting her own growth so as not to hurt her beloved father, a social worker intervenes, removing Lucy from her home and placing her in foster care. It is now up to the courts to decide if Sam is fit to continue raising Lucy. As the day of the hearing looms, Sam seeks the aid of self-absorbed, successful lawyer Rita Harrison, who only agrees to take on Sam's case free of charge to save face with her colleagues. And so it begins: a battle of love versus ability, the individual against an unbending system. In the centre remains a father and daughter who just want to be together.Supported by a stellar cast including Michelle Pfeiffer (What Lies Beneath), Dianne Weist (The Horse Whisperer), Laura Dern (Jurassic Park) and 2001 Screen Actors Guild Best Supporting Actress nominee Dakota Fanning (Trapped), Sean Penn delivers a heartwrenching and formidable performance more than worthy of his Oscar nomination.
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Reviews
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this movie is one of the best movie ever made. it made me cry all the way thru. and made me smile because of how the daughter and father bonded.
this movie will touch everyones heart. big thumbs up to sean penn and dakota fanning for making an awesome film that i will never forget!! CLASSIC!! a real tearjereker!!
My hat's off to Sean Penn for having the nerve to take this role, and then really committing to the role, he committed way too much though. His performance is so over the top he would have qualified for the pole vault in the Sydney Olympics merely by forwarding a copy of this DVD to the judges. Dakota Fanning is as precious as ever and I hope she can avoid all the trappings of child stardom that have sapped some of the best child actors of the last 30 years (Todd Bridges, Jill Whelan, Eve Plumb).
Sean Penn in the last few years has reformed to become one of the greatest actors of this generation. This role was made for him to play, he is one of few who could pull off the role of a mentally disabled parent, and do so without having to play the villiage idiot card. Pheiffer drags this film down a bit, but then again her character does not really have much room to be played any differently.
Despite a brave performance from Sean Penn and a lovely soundtrack of BEatles covers I Am Sam emerges as rather sticky conventional Hollywood piece of manipulation as a disabled man attempts to raise his daughter, its shallow and shameless in its attempts to manipluate the viewer into believing it has depth and meaning.
A beautifully told movie in which Sean Penn's portrayal of Sam is outstanding. Tells the story of Sam Dawson who is mentally challenged and raising his precious daughter Lucy. Father and daughter love and adore each other and you see that they look after each other equally as Lucy grows up. When authories want to take Lucy away from Sam claiming that he can no longer look after her sufficiently enter Rita, a lawyer who helps fight their case. A touching movie that will sometimes make you want to cry, occassionally make you laugh and leave you with a smile and a good feeling.
a nice movie that has some great moral values to it and is one of those movies that has a long lasting effect on you. sean penn is great as the mentally challenged sam and michelle pfefier is ok as the stuck up lawyer whose heart softens up enough to take on his case. a pretty good movie not a classic but worth watching for sean penns performance.
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