I haven't been a fan of Sean Penn's since Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Since that time, nearly all his films have left me flat. In fact, I nearly didn't watch this film since he was in it. What a loss it would have been if I'd missed it! I won't go into the story line since that's been reviewed a lot by others. The story is sort of a cliché'd one and has been done before, though not as well. The story isn't this film's strength anyway - it's the acting. Rarely have I seen a film with this much powerful acting. Penn's performance as Sam is brilliant! He must have studied autistic/mentally challenged people to pull this performance off. I also want to mention how good Michele Pfeiffer was in this. Her character starts out as a hard-hearted witch and ends up being very human, thanks to her exposure to Sam. The change in her is gradual, subtle and fun to watch. Sams friends, very well played by Brad Silverman, Joseph Rosenberg, Stanley DeSantis and Doug Hutchinson are very important support characters. Laura Dern gives a stellar performance as Randy. Dakota Fanning as Lucy very nearly steals the show. This little actress has quite a career ahead of her, I hope! This film is delicately balanced, and has a good bit of humor interspersed with parts that will have even the most insensitive of you reaching for a tissue. The film has a sort of a sappy (and somewhat surprising) outcome, but by this time any other ending would have been pretty much unacceptable to most people. This movie blew me away and I gave it a 9.

Sam Dawson (Sean Penn) is mentally handicapped. He has a daughter but the mother runs away right out of the hospital. He finds himself as a working single dad to Lucy Diamond Dawson (Dakota Fanning). He gets his reclusive neighbor Annie Cassell (Dianne Wiest) to help along with his mentally challenged friends. Calgrove (Loretta Devine) and the Department of Child and Family Services go to court with prosecutor Mr. Turner (Richard Schiff) and take Lucy from Sam. Sam finds Rita Harrison Williams (Michelle Pfeiffer) from the Yellow Pages who has trouble communicating with her own son. She relents to do the case pro bono.

This is such a heart-wrenching movie. I really want it to work out for these characters but the movie doesn't make it easy to like it. The light comical tones get really annoying. Some of it is sort of cute but the movie really suffers from it. I don't want to laugh AT Sam and his friends. I want to laugh with them. And the movie is also trying very hard to manipulate the sentimentality. Sometimes less is more.

While Sean Penn overacts sometimes, I still like his character. And who doesn't love Dakota Fanning's character. Pfeiffer is the overwhelmed working mother character. Then add Dianne Wiest to the mix. It's awkward at times. It tries way too hard but I want good things for all these characters. That carries the day for me.

Do you like this "I Am Sam"?/Yes, I like it, Sam I am. *** What do you think of Sean Penn?/He is such a great actor when/He plays this role, trying to keep his daughter/He does it perfectly, through fire and water *** Does Michelle Pfeiffer do a good job?/She does, even if it makes you sob/I don't usually think much of her/But she's quite swell here, as it were *** And Dakota Fanning, is she alright?/She's a good actress/Every day and night/She's more than cute, I gotta say/This girl's got potential in every way *** So how much do you rate this flick?/Why do you ask? Is that a trick?/It's definitely something that you should see/The movie's as well done as can be *** Apologies to Dr. Seuss