Josh and S.A.M. is a 1993 American drama-comedy film revolving around two brothers who hate each other and how they react to their parents' divorce. It stars Noah Fleiss, Jaob Tierney, Mara Plimpton, and a young Jake Gyllenhaal. The MPAA rating system rated this film PG-13 for kids in jeopardy.
Plot
The film is a road-trip themed dark comedy about two young brothers who run away from home due to emotional conflict over the divorce of their parents. Jacob Tierney plays older brother Josh who unintentionally brainwashes his younger brother Sam (Noah Fleiss) making him believe that he was a genetically designed child warrior. Josh says that Sam is actually an acronym, and that he is a "Strategically Altered Mutant" that was designed by the government to fight in a secret war in Africa. After a series of various suspicious coincidences in Josh's lies, Sam eventually believes that he is a S.A.M.
Josh says that he can be safely deactivated and turned back into a human if he reaches Canada. After being delayed in a hotel in Dallas, Josh grows impatient with his mother and decides to abandon Sam. Blocked at all exits by hotel officials, he heads into a high school reunion to seek refuge. He later lies that his mother was a graduate, and he finds Derek Baxter (Chris Penn), a drunken man claiming to be his father. Before Josh has time to clear his lie, Sam appears and, shortly thereafter, Derek drives them to their "grandparents'" house to tell the good news. Upon entering the house Derek overreacts to a picture of the real family and begins to strangle Josh. Josh then knocks Derek out and believes that he's killed him. In panic, the two brothers steal his car and begin their trek to Canada.
After a day of Josh and Sam driving they encounter Alison (Martha Plimpton), who is an older teen runaway from Hannibal, Missouri. They pick her up due to a resemblance to another lie of Josh's, the Liberty Maid. According to the Liberty Maid's description she aids fleeing S.A.M.'s to Canada, in the similar way of Harriet Tubman. Alison travels with them as their driver and during the run develops a bond with Josh. After a run-in with a cop outside of Salt Lake City, Sam flees, causing a chase through the desert that nearly kills Sam as he crawls under a train. After Josh and Allison reach the car, they dash to the road to continue their journey.
During a night stop in a motel, Sam decides to leave Josh and Alison as he steals the car. Josh is also abandoned by Alison later after she fails to convince him to live in Seattle with her. After a long walk, he discovers the car crashed into the brush by the shoulder. Unfortunately, Sam is not there, but he discovers a bus stop nearby and rides it the rest of the way to Canada. On the bus, he sees Sam riding on the back of a semi-truck and, after he and Sam reunite, they walk across the border into Canada.
In Calgary, Canada, Josh tries several attempts un-brainwash him back to normal. Among these, is a trip to a tanning both, saying that will deactivate him. After that, Sam is sent back home to Orlando on a plane. Josh stays behind and later finds that Derek Baxter was only knocked out and not killed, giving him reason to return home. Among one of the advancements of the film was learning to trust and love one another in the face of the emotional turmoil of their new family situation.
Cast
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