• Rating:
• Genre: Drama
• Movie Type: Melodrama, Courtroom Drama
• Themes: Custody Battles, Living With Disability, Saintly Fools
• Director: Jessie Nelson
• Main Cast: Sean Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dakota Fanning, Dianne Wiest, Loretta Devine
• Release Year: 2001
• Country: US
• Run Time: 132 minutes
• MPAA Rating: PG13

Plot

Sean Penn stars in this drama as Sam Dawson, a developmentally disabled adult who has been working at a coffee shop and raising his daughter Lucy (Dakota Fanning) for seven years. Sam receives help in his parenting duties from a circle of trusted confidantes, including his ADD-afflicted best friend Ifty (Doug Hutchison), the paranoid Robert (Stanley DeSantis), an agoraphobic neighbor (Dianne Wiest), and his other disabled pals, Brad and Joe (played by real-life developmentally challenged actors Brad Silverman and Joseph Rosenberg). Although he provides a structured and loving environment for Lucy that includes regular visits to IHOP, video nights, and karaoke, Sam's daughter is beginning to surpass him in mental acuity. When Lucy begins intentionally stunting her own growth so as not to hurt her beloved father, social worker Margaret (Loretta Devine) takes action, removing the girl from her home and placing her in the temporary care of a foster mother, Randy (Laura Dern). As the day of his hearing looms, Sam seeks out the aid of driven, obsessive lawyer Rita Harrison (Michelle Pfeiffer), who takes the case only to prove to her colleagues that she is willing to accept pro bono work. Opposed by county lawyer Turner (Richard Schiff) in court, Rita gradually comes to care for her client and his daughter, even as they force her to consider the limitations of her own abilities as a parent. The soundtrack for I Am Sam (2001) gained considerable critical attention, consisting entirely of Beatles cover songs by such contemporary artists as The Black Crowes, Eddie Vedder, the Wallflowers, and Aimee Mann, among others. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Review

For a film that's waterlogged in bathos, it features a brilliant performance from the ever-versatile and surprising Sean Penn, who is a shocker not just for the technical achievement of his role but for the warmth he injects into it. Maybe it's real-life fatherhood, but the actor exhibits a depth of soul previously absent from his already stellar work, putting him into a league where he could conceivably play just about anyone. On the whole, however, the project comes up short, gorging itself on sentiment, its calculatedly twee preciousness finally overwhelming one's desire to like it. There is a dissonance here between the great acting of Penn, Dianne Wiest, and young Dakota Fanning, who display Oscar-caliber talents, and the style and tone of director Jessie Nelson, whose craft employs all of the nuance and grace of a Lifetime Original Movie. That's not to say that the film lacks emotional impact, but the obviousness and desperation of the filmmakers' manipulation provoke tears that are not cathartic, but bitter and resentful. Serious questions are asked, but never really answered, and the weary civil servants who ask them in an effort to do their important jobs are treated as heavies. Michelle Pfeiffer is handed a one-note role, her problematic husband is never even glimpsed, robbing her of the sort of conflict necessary to reveal more about her character. The director's predilection for handheld camera work, presumably to impart upon the viewer a sense of the protagonist's confused disorientation, only serves to leave the film's cross-eyed audience reaching for the Dramamine when combined with the director's taste for numerous close-ups. And audiences will likely be split on the use of developmentally disabled characters to serve as a literal comic relief peanut gallery. The production team has attempted to dodge any criticism of this hackneyed ploy by utilizing real-life developmentally challenged actors in some of these supporting roles, but it doesn't mean that the way they're presented by the script is any less exploitative. The subtlety born of good taste would have gone a long way toward making I Am Sam a more worthy, meaningful, and memorable effort. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Cast

• Sean Penn - Sam Dawson
• Michelle Pfeiffer - Rita Harrison
• Dakota Fanning - Lucy

Dianne Wiest - Annie; Loretta Devine - Margaret Calgrove; Richard Schiff - Turner; Laura Dern - Randy Carpenter; Brad Silverman - Brad; Joseph Rosenberg - Joe; Stanley de Santis - Robert; Doug Hutchison - Ifty; Mary Steenburgen; Caroline Keenan; Chase Mackenzie Bebak; Mason Lucero; Scott Paulin

Credit

Richard Chew - Editor; Elliot Davis - Cinematographer; Michael De Luca - Executive Producer; Susie de Santo - Costume Designer; Marshall Herskovitz - Producer; Aaron Osborne - Production Designer; Edward Zwick - Producer; Jessie Nelson - Director; Jessie Nelson - Producer; Jessie Nelson - Screenwriter; Richard Solomon - Producer; Douglas Axtell - Sound/Sound Designer; Mary Gail Artz - Casting; Lisa Campbell - Associate Producer; Lisa Campbell - First Assistant Director; Jennifer Gentile - Set Designer; Jennifer Gentile - Set Decorator; Stephanie J. Gordon - Set Designer; Kristine Johnson - Screenwriter; Claire Rudnick Polstein - Executive Producer; David Scott Rubin - Executive Producer; John Powell - Composer (Music Score); Glenn Rivers - Set Designer; Erin Cochran - Art Director; Paul Timothy Carden - Supervising Sound Editor; Joe Milner - Supervising Sound Editor; Barbara Cohen - Casting; Terry Wilson - Music Editor; Barbara Hall - Co-producer

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