Rating: 
Summary: Great perfomance from Sean Penn
Review: A good movie... not a great movie. Sean Penn once again showed how devoted to a role he can be. He was wonderful and believeable as the mentally challenged Sam. Michelle Pfeiffer was average as the high priced lawyer, who ended up working for Sam pro bono... but her character grew tiresome on me. I didn't believe Pfeiffer in her role nearly as much as I did Penn. There were several things I liked about this movie... 1. All the Beatle cover tunes and references (only Ringo was not mentioned by name), 2. Sean Penn's performance (check out the deleted scenes too... there's one scene where a customer spills his coffee at the Starbuck's and he asks Sam for help and Sam explodes on him... a very emotional moment), 3. Dakota Fanning sparkled as Sam's daughter, 4. Diane Wiest plays yet another oddball eccentric supporting role, and 5. The unknown supporting cast of friends of Sam were very funny at times. What I didn't like about this film... 1. The constant (somewhat shaky) movement back and forth of the camera - it felt like much of the movie was filmed with a hand-held camera by a guy who had too much coffee - it gave me a headache, 2. Michelle Pfeiffer, 3. The depressing ending. A good DVD to rent, but I will not rush out and purchase. DVD features: Trailers, Documentary - "Becoming Sam", deleted scenes, widescreen format, 134 minutes.
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing...
Review: I was shown the film I am Sam in a class that i just finished down in LA. First off, the soundtrack is a definite must buy, as many recording artists cover beatles songs in a very tasteful manner. The film itself delivers high calibur performances from all of the leads and the supporting cast. I would be very surprised if sean penn doesn't get an acadamy award nomination. Michelle pfieffer was also very good in the film, as was laura dern. This movie went straight for the heart and it was able to balance the serious moments with some light hearted moments. The young actress who played lucy was amazing in the film as well. I recommend this to anyone who wants to see a movie that will make you think. Think about what it means to be a good parent, and about the strength and spirit of love and how it transcends any handicap that we are born with or that we inflict upon ourselves. I can't say enough great things about this movie, so go see it!
Rating:
Summary: you'll laugh and cry- its a very good movie
Review: this movie is very touching. i wont retell the story because thats already been done, but i would like to say that it is definitely worth seeing. sean penn and dakota fanning both give outstanding performances. very good.
Rating:
Summary: VERY POWERFUL EMOTIONS
Review: Well, I have to give five stars to this extremely powerful, emotional and memorable film. The outstanding work of the cast, and specifically Sean Penn, made the rest of it not important. Set, music, costumes, camera took the the secondary place to the performance. All actors were great. I don't think Sean Penn was acting. I think he lived the role and the rest of the cast was not much behind. Bravo ladies and gentelmen working on this film. You deserve the applauds.
Rating:
Summary: Makes us cry...
Review: I AM SAM is one of the best movies I have ever seen. Sean Penn is stunning in his performance as a mentally challenged father who is at risk of losing his daughter young Lucy Diamond (Dakota Fanning). His inability to gain a steady and successful career now leaves him pondering trying to find the perfect lawyer to handle his case, but with limited income this poses a major problem. Later he meets one of the best lawyers and due to a misunderstood show put on by the lawyer (Michelle Pfeiffer), Sam (Sean Penn) gets the best lawyer for free. As she learns to become more compassionate, Sam teaches his newfound lawyer how to come closer to her son while at the same time he desperately struggles to regain custody of his daughter Lucy. With laughs and cries, I am Sam is definitely a great movie that touches ones heart and makes ones tears flow like a waterfall.
Rating: 
Summary: Did the Critics Watch it to the End?
Review: "The lesson "I Am Sam" wants to teach us is, "All you need is love." This is not quite strictly true. Sam loves his daughter more than anyone else, and she loves him, but it will take more than love for him to see her through grade school and adolescence and out into the world. Since the movie does not believe this, it has a serious disagreement with most of the audience." - Roger Ebert
I like Roger Ebert, he is one of the few film critics I see eye-to-eye with most of the time. (Though you wouldn't know it from my review of "I Hated, Hated, Hated this movie") The thing I admire most about Ebert is the clarity of his writing. He succinctly summarizes the chief complaint among the critical community about "I Am Sam" (see above) Ebert et. al would be correct if we conceded that this was the point of the film. I'm only 20 years old, I have no children, and even I know it takes a lot more than love to provide for a child. No one in their right mind would be completely on Sam's side, and ultimately, neither is the movie!!! This becomes abundantly clear if you WATCH IT TO THE END. If it had ended any other way it would be a profoundly stupid film.
Contrary to popular belief, "All you need is Love" is not the message of "i am sam." In fact I believe that the film could have saved itself a lot of scorn if it hadn't made that phrase its tagline.
Instead, "i am sam" teaches its audience that a family that has everything, yet is devoid of love is just as doomed as a family that has nothing else.
Rating:
Summary: Its all about love and empathy.
Review: Sean Penn delivers a terrific performance as an autistic father who tries to bring up his daughter. Eventually the social workers found out about him through the teacher at the school his daughter attends, and they try to take away his daughter and put her into foster care because they think he isn't mentally capable of raising a child. Due to the unusual circumstances that ensue partly due to Sean Penn's persistent efforts at getting the best lawyer (Michelle Pfeiffer) to help him regain custody of his daughter, Michelle decides to help him out and in the process develops a meaningful friendship with Sean. This movie really tries to do a few things. It shows us the negative attitude that society has towards people with mental illness. Does having a high IQ mean one is more than capable of being a better parent than another person with a low IQ (or a mental illness)? We're not talking about people with psychotic/violent mental illnesses here. The movie tries to tell us is that love is very important. We live in a world which can be so heartless sometimes, so impersonal and so distant. A lot of us get caught up in the games and the rat races, and we even start to believe that this is really what the world is about - money, status, power. Every now and then, we are lucky enough to witness a small gesture of care and love to remind us that there is more to life than just the work and the money. In this movie though, you'll find LOADS of scenes which convey true love and care - not the kind of erotic, passionate love between lovers, but the kind of warmth and empathy and goodwill that lights up the grey in our skies. Michelle Pfeiffer put in a great performance as well, and so did Dakota Fanning as Sean Penn's daughter in the film. I like Laura Dern's performance too. Just so many things I like about this movie - the music, the artwork, the acting... A pity, I think, that this movie will probably not move the hearts of those who are into bloody violence and gore that is so predominant in Hollywood movies today. This is a drama film - the emotions that the actors convey, its all about paying attention to the words and the meaning in each scene... If you can spare the time, if you want to be moved, watch this movie with an open heart. It'll do you good.
Rating:
Summary: . . . My brother has autism . . .
Review: This film is phenomenal. Let me tell you why, in the best way I know how: **Personal Preface: My brother Christopher has autism. He was diagnosed with autism when he was four, and is now twenty-four. In age, he is my older brother; in mentality I have been his older brother since I was 5.
Growing up with Christopher has taught me many things about life-perspective and how some people see many things differently. I am deeply saddened by the other reviews here slandering the film on the grounds that "it takes much more than love to get a girl through adolescence, and anything else in life."
The Greeks labeled three kinds of love, Eros: passionate or sensual love, Phileao: love shared between close friends and family, and Agape: A transcendent, selfless love that neither wavers nor grows dim. Unfortunately some people have never experienced all three of these types of love, nor do they know how to measure their efficacy.
To my brother Christopher, all he does need is love, and literally as a high functioning person with autism, all he gives is love. It's all he knows. He loves life, cheeseburgers, music, church: simple things.
As a certified assistant psychotherapist for the Lovaas firm of autism research, I also know that love, even as the popular definition as our culture knows it, is the most effective tool in helping both children and those with autism develop as functional human beings.
My mother works with the career resource exchange in Colorado Springs. In her case load has more than 30 different people with mental disabilities that she helps on a bi-weekly basis. Even having an autistic child, she did not recognize Sean Penn until the movie was over. Here's the kicker, Sean Penn is her favorite actor. That is what kind of performance he gives.
To both Roger Ebert, and the individual that quoted him: Ebert, everyone knew you as the bitter weird tub next to Siskel, grow up, and figure out that nobody like your pious pretension and aesthetic retardation. In response to the pessimistic young man who quoted R.E. Mystery Log: befriend someone with downs, or Aspurgers, and figure out how their minds work, how their hearts talk, and then critique movies that you know nothing about. ***Movie Review: Honestly Sean Penn's performance eclipses Dustin Hoffman's in Rain man, both for believability and accuracy. You know how the Academy Awards operate; he was being rewarded for this performance this year. Sean Penn's performance is nothing short of a cinematic miracle of epic proportions. His behaviorisms, tics, antics, voice inflection, deliveries, the list just goes on and on.
Two of the four actors that played his friends actually had the disabilities they were portraying, making authenticity something not to be questioned.
The film raises a series on controversial questions about guardianship and family; the most controversial here being how certain demanding vocations can corrode your life, and your relationship with your family. Michelle Pfeifer does an incredible job portraying the overworked mother, whose stresses at a six figure job causes dilapidations in her home life as well as work relations.
The other amount of controversy can be attributed to the antagonizing of the state's District Attorney. In most cases the state does do its job of properly assessing the abilities of caretakers of those mentally disabled, but there have been many cases where the state was incapable of demonstrating these abilities. By no means does this movie mean to prove that this is unequivocally the lot of the courthouse, but it does illuminate infractions that are not unheard of in the courtroom. This film has made me cry every time I see it. I have seen it about eight times. I don't cry because I am sad, or because I am over emotional, or because I am happy that small voices are being heard, I cry because I see the characters going through the same struggles I go through in my life, and overcome them with love and things we often forget. This film is in my top 25 incredible movies list. Five stars, highest recommendations.
Rating:
Summary: Sean Penn is Simply Amazing!
Review: With the exception of a few bad words, this movie was a good teaching vehicle for my nine year-old son Ryan who has a severely autistic seven year-old brother. It showed the acceptance that is possible with mentally retarded(pardon the outdated term) individuals. It also showed how society often completely misinterprets the behavior of special people, like my son. Beatle's soundtrack wonderfully done, the whole movie was a very moving stream of consciousness. How could a person not have more respect for the acting of Sean Penn after this one?? Even though Sean is in a lot of "tough guy movies," he is to be praised for this one! I hope he attempts more ambitious roles...I would love to see him portray an autistic man, or maybe appear as Charley Gordon in a re-make of "Flowers for Algernon." Jeffrey McAndrew
author of "Our Brown-Eyed Boy"
Rating: 
Summary: Terrible. Truly terrible.
Review: This movie is not good at all. The cinematography is absolutely terrible and the direction and writing are just as bad. The writing is littered with tear-jerking balleyhoo. The All Movie Guide review sums it up: "The situations raise questions, but the filmmakers show no interest in finding a realistic solution, only in squeezing tears and heartwarming sighs out of the audience." Also, I'm deeply disappointed in Michelle Pfeiffer. Her performance was as hokey as the script and definitely is sub-par. This having been said, I'll play the part of the optimist and point out some good things. Sean Penn and Dakota Fanning deliver great performances. Their chemistry on the screen is absolutely amazing. They turn this movie from a 0- to 1-star film to a 2- to 2 1/2-star film. Summarized, this movie is a tear-wrenching heart-warmer. It's still not very good. Bad writing. Bad direction. Bad acting (save the aforementioned). I wouldn't pay $7.50 to see this, nor would I put out $4 to rent it. But if you want to show some sensitivity in front of your girlfriend, this is definitely one to reach for.
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