My review of I Am Sam (Containing minor spoilers)

Plot Synopsis

Before beginning with the review, it’s probably a good idea to repeat the basic plot of I Am Sam, directed by Jessie (Corrina, Corrina) Nelson. Sam Dawson (Sean Penn) is a mentally handicapped man with the mind of a 7-year-old. He also is a devouted single father to a little 7-year-old girl, Lucy (Dakota Fanning), who has just started school and is already beginning to intellectually surpass her father. The school and social services authorities soon become aware of the family’s situation, and Lucy is removed from Sam’s care. Assisted by his group of mentally-challenged friends, Sam approaches high-powered, workaholic attorney, Rita Harrison (Michelle Pfeiffer) to defend his case in court. Initially dismissive of Sam, Rita is shamed by her co-workers into taking Sam’s case pro bono. In the course of Sam’s fight for Lucy, these two very different people learn a great deal from one another, as well as that when it comes to parenthood, love is the most important thing.

The Review

When talking about I Am Sam, there really is no escaping a discussion of performances. In fact, the best thing about I Am Sam is the performances.

With any film that has a mentally-handicapped character in a lead role, the success of the film as a whole depends on how successfully that character is played. Everyone has their own method of gauging these types of performances; for me it’s a case of whether or not I forget that I’m watching an actor onscreen. With Sean Penn, I did. I Am Sam is his film, and he does exceptionally well.

Sam Dawson is a grown man with autistic tendencies and the mind of a 7-year old. His life is structured around routines and schedules, and whenever he becomes confused, he resorts to anecdotes to do with his favourite band,  The Beatles. He also is a gentle, generous soul, who spends most of his time complimenting people and hugging strangers. Most importantly he adores his daughter, Lucy, who really is the centre of his life. I’ll say here that I Am Sam brought tears to my eyes only once and that was is when Sam is handed his newborn daughter for the first time. A few short scenes later Sam is examining Lucy’s tiny hands and feet with childlike wonder. It is one of Penn’s best scenes in the film, along with his courtroom testimony later on when Richard Schiff’s prosecutor systematically tears down Sam’s confidence in the notion that ‘all you need is love.’

There are some critics who have complained that Penn provides nothing new with his portrayal, and I would tend to agree. However at the same time that seems to be the point. Penn hasn’t added anything; he has toned down and removed funny walks and numerous choreographed tics. Instead, his representation, sustained throughout the film, is powered by emotion. Granted, there are moments where Sam comes out with wisdom far beyond his mental abilities most of the time he’s just an incredibly devouted father and underdog struggling against the system, and through life in general. Penn’s portrayal generates feeling for Sam, while at the same time reminding the audience that Sam is a fallible parent.

Young Dakota Fanning play’s Sam’s precocious daughter, Lucy, who is beginning to hold back at school so as not to pass her father. Fanning comes across as a very cute, very talented young actress. She is at her best in scenes where her facial expressions are all she has to convey her growing embarassment towards Sam, such as at the Halloween party and in the restaurant. Then there are Lucy’s desperate, quite stubborn attempts to stay with Sam which Fanning also manages to pull off.

There are moments however, just as with the character of Sam where Lucy’s dialogue and reactions are way beyond what is expected of a seven-year old. This is especially true of Lucy’s court testimony where she is constantly trying to manipulate the adults present, and producing such wordly-wise statements as ‘kids lie all the time.’

This then takes us to Michelle Pfeiffer’s Rita Harrison. For pfans, I Am Sam has both its pros and its cons. On the positive side, it’s a pleasure to see Michelle onscreen again after such a long absence. On the negative, this film comes after What Lies Beneath, where pfans are spoilt by having Michelle onscreen in essentially every scene. Like I said before, I Am Sam is Sean Penn’s film, and it is through Sam’s consciousness that the story is told. As a result, Michelle is confined to a much more supporting role than usual. It’s about 45 minutes before Rita even appears for the first time.

All this said, I Am Sam’s Rita Harrison is a fun, pro-active role for Michelle. I’ve heard pfans draw comparisons between Rita and One Fine Day’s Melanie Parker, and they’re right. Rita is Melanie on speed. In fact some of Michelle’s best, most enjoyable scenes are early on when Rita is going about her day at its typically frenetic pace.  What Michelle gives Rita here is a constant borderline hysteria.  Sam and the viewer encounter Rita as a snappish ball-busting career-woman, yelling into her cellphone, cursing, lying, kicking tables, driving like a mad person, dishing out oblique threats, blowing people off and making her secretary cry. And all this doesn’t include a mention of Rita’s strained relationship with her son, and her obvious sweet-tooth- see I Am Sam if only to witness Michelle stuffing marshmallows into her mouth, and copious amounts of jelly beans into her pockets.

Of course, this is basically a given, but I think it needs to be mentioned anyway: Michelle looks stunning throughout I Am Sam. After her softer suburban mom roles of the past 5 years or so, this film is a departure, requiring her beauty and glamour to be played up instead of being made to look more ‘ordinary.’ Rita runs around in tailored suits, boots and dark lipstick, and operates against such backdrops as a fancy office with all the techno toys, and a palatial home that stuns both Sam and the viewer when they first encounter it. Michelle looks great. Even in a scene where Rita has to rush to Sam’s defence at 3AM, Michelle’s her sexy tousled self.

Some of my other favourite scenes of Michelle’s are typically short (very often too short) and which provide little bits of insight into her character. An example would be when Rita is trying to sweet-talk a response from her son, Willie, over the phone by telling him that she’s bought a bag of his favourite jelly beans. Meanwhile, the camera is focused on her hands as she picks random yellow beans out of a large bowl. Then there’s an amusing sequence where the viewer meets the type of clients Rita deals with on a regular basis- bitter divorcees, neither of whom want custody of their child. It’s an insane situation, and for much of I Am Sam, Rita is the straightman in the midst of insanity. The two best examples of this are of her interviewing Sam’s friends, and later on when dropping Sam’s agoraphobic neighbour Annie (Diane Weist) off at home while Sam is bouncing around on the back-seat of the porsche.

As for the screen relationship between Michelle and Sean Penn, they do work well together. Despite the removal of the love affair between Rita and Sam from the final cut of the film, there are still enough hints present to suggest that the relationship happens. Knowledge of it certainly helps to explain why Rita quite drastically mellows after Sam comforts her. One of my favourite scenes between them remains the court room cafeteria sequence, with Sam attempting to prove that he’s ‘normal’ enough to pay for lunch. The scene becomes increasingly uncomfortable, in fact painful to watch, as Sam struggles with basic arithmetic, and Rita can only look on in silence while the people behind her become increasingly impatient.

It’s also with Sam that Rita has her big ‘breakdown’ moment, which means another big monologue for Michelle. Evidentally Jessie Nelson, having already co-scripted The Story Of Us, gets a kick out of seeing Michelle do them. I found this one to be far more convincing than the one at the end of Us, although it could easily have been all the more powerful if Michelle’s lines had been halved and she could simply cry instead. For a second opinion of the monologue I turned to my mother, who watched I Am Sam with me. Her response to the breakdown was that it would have been better if Michelle squeezed out some actual tears, because without them she comes across as whiny.

That then leaves one final issue to deal with and that is whether or not Michelle’s character is a stereotype. I can only think to say that if Rita Harrison qualifies as a stereotype, then so too does Annette Benning’s performance in American Beauty. In American film today, upper-middle class women, in particular those in the workplace are generally portrayed as being damaged and highly-strung. Granted that Rita is a throwback to those powerful corporate women of the late 1980s, but what is really more cliched about her is not they way she is played; but rather how it takes an encounter with a mentally-challenged person to change her for the better.

Now moving on to the rest of the cast, I Am Sam includes a surprising number of known faces in very small roles. Mary Steenburgen and Brett Spiner all pop up in basic cameos. With limited screen time, Diane Wiest gives a subdued performance as Sam’s neighbour Annie, who plays a large part in explaining how Lucy has emerged as such a intelligent, well-rounded little girl in Sam’s care. She does however inexplicably disappear halfway through the film to have her screentime filled by Laura Dern in the last 45 minutes of the film.  Dern occupies the small but necessary role of Lucy’s caring foster mother. And it’s always nice to see her onscreen. Finally there’s Sam’s group of friends; 2 of whom are mentally-challenged in real life. Although Sam’s friends provide comic relief, it’s not simply a case of these people being present to be laughed at. They are chiefly presented as being a devouted support system for Sam, while at the same time striving for their own independence. All 4 turn in convincing performances.

Moving onto other aspects of the film as a whole:

Some people have been jarred by the film’s cinematography. With the exception of one point I didn’t have a problem with it; but then again I didn’t feel ill after seeing The Blair Watch Project. What I had more of a problem with was editing and pacing. Like the camerawork the editing attempts to relate to the viewer the way that Sam experiences the world, which is apparently through a series of moments that impact on him. The result for the audience is very short and segmented scenes which often enough would probably work better if they were allowed to play out in their longer, natural state. I Am Sam has its pacing problems for this reason- its 132 minutes are divided uncomfortably between scenes that are way too brief and those that are too long and drawn-out.

Another complaint levelled at I Am Sam is that it is manipulative. I personally did not feel any more manipulated than usual and this was two days after seeing Disney’s Snow Dogs. Music plays a big role in provoking emotions, and in I Am Sam the piano certainly wells up in the background during intentionally touching moments. Covers of Beatles songs are incorporated into the film very successfully for this same purpose.  The original score however tends to be an annoying constant, with a clapping sound used to accompany the more fast-paced scenes.  Many of these involve Rita and tend to drown out dialogue.  Many scenes would have been much more powerful without background noise.

Very few reviewers have managed to make it through their reviews without presenting their point as to whether a mentally handicapped single parent can or should raise a child. I was therefore expecting I Am Sam to skate over issues, and while it does to a certain degree, there are enough suggestions present for the audience to work with, such as how it really is Annie who gives the toddler Lucy all the developmental stimulation she needs. However, at the same time there are a number of contrived plot occurences, such as why do the police still book Sam when they discover that he is mentally-challenged, and why on earth does the Starbucks manager let Sam finally make coffee on the same day of his big court appearance? But by the time that the film’s logical and satisfying ending arrives, everything tends to have been smoothed out.

Utimately I Am Sam is a harmless, pleasant affair, that isn't going to change the world. It’s generally light and entertaining, and surprisingly not as sugary-sweet as you would expect.  Emotional types might still want to take a tissue along with them though, and if you jerk at the sight of product placements you might want to avoid this film altogether.  

I Am Sam’s big drawcard is the film’s performances, from Sean Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer and Dakota Fanning respectively. They’re the real reason to see the film, which I give 7 out of 10.  Incidentally, my mother gave the film an 8 out of 10, mainly for Sean Penn’s performance.

Sidenote:

This review has been written a couple of days after seeing I Am Sam for the first time. I’m intending to have a more leisurely viewing of the film again within the next few weeks for the reason that after a gap of 18 months since last seeing Michelle onscreen, it’s incredibly difficult to absorb everything in one sitting.