Rating: 
Summary: a rare hollywood gem
Review: this movie makes you think about how we a society treats people. sean penn and Michelle pfeiffer give great performences. and little dakota steals your heart. this movie will make you cry Michelle Pfeiffer's charater sure made me cry and sean penn's sam is so loveable. every one should see this film weather or not it looks good to them
Rating: 
Summary: Concentrate on the acting and you'll enjoy this film...
Review: My eyes welled up with tears watching the trailers before the movie came out. So I was mentally prepared for this movie going in. I've always had a soft spot for stories involving an underdog who proves the world wrong and betters it in the process. In this film Sean Penn plays a retarded father to a seven year old daughter whose mental capacity is slowly exceeding his. Ironically, it's the daughter that leads to the involvement of Child Services in a protracted legal battle for Sean Penn's rights to raise her daughter. I think the cast was well chosen. Sean Penn plays the mentally-challenged role very well. (Hence an Oscar nomination.) Dakota Fanning did a magnificent job portraying the daughter. When the camera looks into her eyes, the audience just melts. Michelle Pfeiffer's bitchy career-driven lawyer act went smoothly. This film was both sad and touching to me. Towards the end of the film, Michelle Pfeiffer comments "I'm afraid I got more out of this than you" referring to how much Sean Penn has taught her about loving her own child while at the same time knowing his chances of getting his daughter back is slim. If you concentrate not so much on the storyline but on the acting, you'll enjoy the film immensely.
Rating:
Summary: IQ versus Love, there is no comparison.
Review: Hollywood gives us sentimentality at it's best and a true winner. Sam Dawson is an autistic man faced with raising his infant daughter on his own. Lucy is now 7 years old and was named after the Beatle song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" which kicks off a soundtrack of cover Beatle songs that is worth a purchase on its own. Lucy becomes the center of a legal battle when Sam's ability to care for her becomes questionable, and she is removed to stay with a foster family. A "five hanky movie" from start to finish Sean Penn does the part justice like no other could. Dakota Fanning plays Lucy his precocious seven-year-old daughter with finesse beyond her age. This is Academy award material for certain and a great movie for the whole family. Kelsana 2/26/02
Rating:
Summary: I am Sam
Review: I loved this movie! I am great friends with a mother of an m/r child. This movie really puts it into perspective when looking into the future. The sad thing is that what happened to Sam and his daughter really happens. The entire theater was packed full of crying men and women. This is a great movie for the soft at heart. I recommend this movie to anyone and don't let the hard core movie reviewers tell you different. 5 stars from me!
Rating:
Summary: A Film of Oscar Worthy Proportions!
Review: Sam Dawson is a single parent of a young girl. Having the intelligence of a seven year old, Child Services begins to worry of Sam's capability to take care of Lucy. When the situation heads to court he receives the help of a lawyer, played by Michelle Pfeiffer. The ending is somewhat predictable, but gives you a feeling of warmth when you walk out of the theater.
The film gives a message, that when it comes to parenting, "love is all you need" and makes Child Services and the government for that matter, look like bad guys (when in truth, they would most likely be considerate of the situation), but the film is so well done (as far as acting goes) that the film, despite it's depictions of the court system, is believable. As for the professional critics who bash the film for it's content, I ask, "Since when did a ficticious film have to depict society down to a T, in order to enjoy a story?" Again chemistry is important; the smart talking Michelle Pfeiffer and mentally ill father Sean Penn have that. The acting, including Dakota Flanning's performance as Lucy, all deserve Oscar nodds. A film that tampers with your emotions, "I AM SAM" kicks off the year 2002 with a bang and is well worth the money to see.
Rating:
Summary: One of the years best films
Review: This movie was exceptional. The movie does a good job showing just how "able" the disabled really are. It also shows the many views our society has about the mentally challenged.
The acting in this movie is superb. The entire cast was absolutely fabulous and Sean Penn gives what I believe to be the best performance I have ever seen him in.
I found myself thrown through all kinds of emotion from sadness to anger to laughter. The director did a great job portraying these characters and why we should care about their story.
I highly recommend this movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Sickeningly sweet.
Review: "All you need is love." - John Lennon This famous quote serves as the focal point for the plot of "I Am Sam," one of the most manipulative tear-jerkers to come out of Hollywood in quite some time. The movie does everything it can to convince its audience that it's mentally handicapped protagonist is perfectly capable of taking care of his 7-year-old daughter because he loves her; of course, common sense says otherwise. Take Sam's daily events and lifestyle, for example. He works at a Starbucks Coffee establishment, where he makes eight dollars an hour serving beverages and arranging the table packets of sugar in order (strange, isn't it, that everyone in movies can afford nice apartments at crap jobs). The mother of his new daughter, Lucy, is a homeless woman who "only wanted a place to sleep." During Lucy's infant years, Sam must ask for advice countless times from his neighbor, who has her own doubts about his ability as a parent. The movie, of course, uses Sam's retardation as an excuse to apply its morals of love winning over all obstacles. When Lucy is taken away from him after his arrest for unknowingly conversing with a prostitute, he asks for the help of one of the town's top lawyers, Rita Harrison (Michelle Pfeiffer), who offers to take on the case pro bono in her attempt to prove her charitable side to her coworkers. In a series of courtroom showdowns and testimonies that squeeze all the support for Sam the story can get, we are given to accept that, as little Lucy exclaims, "all you need is love." But the opposing side of the courtroom (at least the side we're led to believe as the opposition), makes the better argument. They call into question Sam's ability to care for Lucy in her formative years, as she makes the transition to adulthood, while Rita and Sam spend their spare time concocting speeches about what a loving father he is, and how he can give his daughter the love that no one else can. Even still, this is countered with the question "If you really love your daughter as you say you do, then don't you believe that she deserves more?" I'm sorry to say that I agree. As the movie plods on along its merry way, things go from saccharine to sickeningly sweet. It introduces more characters into the story, ... But the movie, as well as Sam, can't seem to come to grips with the reality of its situation, resorting to treacle and sentiment as a fallback.
Rating:
Summary: "'Rainman' anyone?"or "Have You Ever Felt Manipulated?"
Review: I know I'm going against just about everyone else who's written their opinions here (excluding that Amazon.com person), but...I found this film shamelessly tactless! Just because a movie can make you cry DOESN'T make it brilliant! I don't know where my unhapiness began with this film, but somewhere early on; very early on. Was it the herky-jerky camera movements(practically motion sickness inducing), attempting to convey a feeling of "real life" that made me dislike the film so? Was it the product placements (Starbuck's, Pizza Hut)that made the film, at times, seem like a VERY LONG commercial? Or was it that the film portrays people with mental disorders as being cute, quaint and funny? Or was it the annoying way "Sam's" daughter was so loveable and mature in dealing with her father's illness? It's so hard for me to tell, really, where my dislike for this film begins. But on a lighter note, I think Sean Penn is perhaps one of the very few great actors of the American cinema working today. I've liked almost (forget "Shanghai" and "Angels")everything I've seen him in, and he really puts his heart into this role. Unfortunately, he can't save himself from this saccharine mess. Michelle Pfeiffer almost rises above television-type melodrama, but the "tough girl turns soft" thing she does is tired, tired, tired. (I DO like the cover version by Aimee Mann and Michael Penn of "Two Of Us," by the way, but that doesn't really save the movie for me.) Some genius, perhaps the music director of the film, proposed the EXTREMELY risky idea of having popular artists cover Beatles' songs! How ingenious! Is it not common knowledge that just about anyone with ears likes the Beatles? I think that that idea alone completely lacks originality, and almost entirely sums up how I feel about this film. Please don't think me "cold-hearted" or malicious, because I don't think I am. Some of you should pop "The Bicycle Thief" or "Ponette"(for example)into your VCR/DVD player to get a taste of how to artfully and realistically portray sentimentality and pain, while portraying the thoughts and actions of children. I certainly am not the only person reading this right now who feels his emotions needs to be earned by the filmmaker, am I? This simply feels like a very well done made for tv movie of the week (or is that "movie FOR the weak"?). Regardless, I expected more from my movie-going experience. What was I thinking?
Rating:
Summary: HEART WORMING
Review: Sam Dawson (Sean Penn) is a mentally-challenged father raising his daughter Lucy (Dakota Fanning) with the help of an extraordinary group of friends. As Lucy turns seven and begins to intellectually surpass her father, their close bond is threatened when their situation comes to the attention of a social worker who wants Lucy placed in foster care. Faced with a seemingly unwinnable case, Sam vows to fight the legal system and forms an unlikely alliance with Rita Harrison (Michelle Pfeiffer), a high-powered, self-absorbed attorney who takes his case pro bona as a challenge from her colleagues. Together they struggle to convince the system that Sam deserves to get his daughter back and, in the process, fuse a bond that results in a unique testament to the power of unconditional love.
Rating:
Summary: greatest tear-jerker ever
Review: i have seen movie twice now. and i know nobody could have played the part of sam better than sean penn i have liked all his movies but this is the best yet i think. he should have a oscar or something is wrong. michelle pfeiffer was also great in her part. but dakota fanning just plain steals your heart as lucy. this is one of the best family movie i seen in a long time. and i do like a movie that makes me cry. and i am not ashamed to say i cried like a baby from start to end both times.
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