Rain Man meets Mr. Mom. That’s probably the quickest (though not the most accurate) way to sum up I Am Sam starring the versatile Sean Penn (The Thin Red Line) in the title role. Penn plays Sam Dawson, a mentally handicapped man with the abilities of a seven year-old who becomes a father shortly into the film. Between the birth of this baby girl and her eighth birthday, Sam and his daughter do just fine. However, at this point she (Lucy Diamond Dawson after lyrics in a Beatles’ song) surpasses her father in mental intellect. Here is where the story gets interesting, emotional, and compelling (up to this point the movie is mainly comical). Once Lucy (Dakota Fanning) turns eight the State of California’s child services agency steps in and takes Lucy into the foster system due to two minor incidents with Sam. Up to this point, Sam had been raising Lucy by himself with a small support group since Lucy’s mother left as soon as she was discharged from the hospital after giving birth. This support group consists of the reclusive piano teacher Annie (Dianne West from Practical Magic), and a bunch of other mentally handicapped men named Robert (Stanley DeSantis), Ifty (Doug Hutchison), Brad (Brad Allan Silverman), and Joe (Joseph Rosenberg). Eventually things come to trial for a hearing to determine what is best for Lucy with high powered divorce attorney Rita Harrison (Michelle Pfeiffer from What Lies Beneath) representing Sam on a pro bono, but only very, very reluctantly. This leads to a side story about Rita’s relationship with her young son that hasn’t been going well. All through this Sam has a hard time trying to figure everything out while Lucy just wants to be with her father. Then throw in the bitchy foster mother (Laura Dern from Jurassic Park 3) that wants Sam to stay the hell away from her daughter that she is trying to adopt, and you end up with one sticky legal mess.

Penn and Pfeiffer do really well in their roles from the screenplay written by Jessie Nelson (she also directs) and Kristine Johnson. The rest of the cast in the film are Loretta Devine, Wendy Phillips, Ken Jenkins, Doug Hutchinson, Rosalind Chao, and Richard Schiff (What’s the Worst That Could Happen?).

I don’t think there was a single person in the theater that wasn’t touched by the love that was displayed between father and daughter. Plus, besides all this raw emotion, there were many laughs provided by the misadventures of the mentally handicapped. However, the story ends a bit abruptly, which leaves what actually happens to Lucy & Sam as a bit of a riddle that isn’t solved by the final scene. This prevents a perfect score, so that I Am Sam ends up with eight couches for the final score.

Last updated: Thursday, March 20, 2008 02:48:37 AM

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