I Am Sam (2001)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Sam Dawson	Sean Penn
Rita Harrison	Michelle Pfeiffer	½
Lucy Diamond Dawson	Dakota Fanning
Annie Cassell	Diane Wiest
Margaret Colgrove	Loretta Devine
Mr. Turner	Richard Schiff
Randy Carpenter	Laura Dern
Ifty	Doug Hutchison
Dr. Blake	Mary Steenburgen

Review

The intentions are good and the film is both good-hearted, warm, well-paced and wonderfully acted. But Kristine Johnson and Jessie Nelson's script is extremely naïve and suffers from it. It was a good idea to approach and convey this story from a simple and earthy point-of-view (as if partly seen from Sam's perspective), but it isn't the perspective that is the problem here, it is the entire nature of the story. There is a mother whose carelessness is not accounted for, there is a non-existent social service system that at first is implicitly criticized for not being there, and then for taking affair when it does, and there is a girl whose wisdom goes beyond reason. To boil it down: All very plot. That is too bad, because with a bit more reasonable angle, this film could have been really effective, and it would have made the sentimental pay-off scenes even more powerful. Because, yes, there is a lot of emotion and dramatic value in this film. And a fine display by Sean Penn and Dakota Fanning in the leads gives us several valuable and truly moving moments.