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

3,290

224

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

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 8 wins & 12 nominations total

Videos2

Photos75

+ 69

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Storyline

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Did you know

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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

7/10

Effective Performance By Sean Penn

I have to confess off the top that I am not and never have been a particular fan of Sean Penn. I have no specific criticism to make of him; as an actor he simply doesn't appeal to me. Because of that bias I approached this movie with low expectations. The story of a mentally handicapped man fighting for custody of his seven year old daughter sounded intriguing, but it starred Penn. But what a pleasant surprise this movie turned out to be!

Penn is actually very good in this role. He brings a realism to the character of Sam Dawson, and portrays him sensitively and with real emotion. In fact, I thought the only performance that was better than Penn's came not from Michelle Pfeiffer (who disappointed me a bit, actually) but rather from little Dakota Fanning as Sam's daughter Lucy. She seemed so natural in this role, and I would hope that we see more of her in the years to come. Pfeiffer, on the other hand, (as Sam's lawyer Rita Harrison) just didn't carry the role off that well, and even the courtroom scenes to me lacked the tension one would have expected from such an emotionally-laden issue.

The movie weakens in the last little bit, going for the sappy (and highly unrealistic) ending - unrealistic particularly in the way Lucy's foster mother (Laura Dern) ends up handling the situation.

Having said that, I still enjoyed this movie very much. It's raised my assessment of Sean Penn's acting abilities and I would recommend it to others and would watch it again.

7/10