I Am Sam

2001
PG-13
2h 12m

IMDb RATING

7.6/10

157K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

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An intellectually disabled man fights for custody of his 7-year-old daughter and in the process teaches his cold-hearted lawyer the value of love and family.An intellectually disabled man fights for custody of his 7-year-old daughter and in the process teaches his cold-hearted lawyer the value of love and family.An intellectually disabled man fights for custody of his 7-year-old daughter and in the process teaches his cold-hearted lawyer the value of love and family.

Director
- Jessie Nelson
Writers
- Kristine Johnson
- Jessie Nelson
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.6/10

157K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

2,861

432

Director
- Jessie Nelson
Writers
- Kristine Johnson
- Jessie Nelson
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 8 wins & 12 nominations total

Trivia
Dakota Fanning's little sister, Elle Fanning, played her character at age 3.

Goofs
When Sam and Lucy are being observed and they are talking, just before Lucy talks to the people observing her she turns her head towards the "camera". The next shot, she turns her head again before talking.

Quotes
Sam: Yeah, but I tried, I tried hard.
Rita: Try harder!
Sam: Yeah, but you don't know, you don't know!
Rita: I don't know WHAT?
Sam: Yeah, you don't know what is like when you try, and you try, and you try, and you try, and you don't ever get there! Because you were born perfect and I was born like this, and you're perfect!
Rita: Oh, is that right?
Sam: People like you don't know...
Rita: People like me?
Sam: People like you don't know what is like to get hurted. Because you don't have feelings. People like you don't feel anything!

Connections
Edited into Becoming Sam (2002)

Soundtracks
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Performed by The Black Crowes
The Black Crowes appear courtesy of V2 Records

User reviews513

Review

Featured review

Very well done, especially Penn and Fanning

In 'Rain Man', Dustin Hoffman gave the best portrayal I have ever seen of a mentally disturbed person, but Sean Penn came very close here. He was quite convincing but somewhat funnier. With Hoffman, I never quite knew when he was supposed to be funny, but with Penn there were many funny moments that I felt okay about laughing at. And I just had to like the character.

I've heard so many good things about Dakota Fanning, and now I see for myself. She's great.

The actors playing Sam's friends also seemed very convincing, one in particular. I didn't catch his name, but he wore glasses and I think he must have really been mentally disabled. The others could have been but might just have been acting.

MIchelle Pfeiffer was very good also, and gorgeous. And Richard Schiff was likable as the lawyer on the other side of Sam's case. In fact, I didn't see those who were against Sam as evil. They just had Lucy's best interests in mind. But I wanted Sam to win.

While it is true this may have been done before, I think this movie offered unique twists and qualities other movies didn't have, and the performances were very good.