I never knew that much about Sean Penn. Just that he might have had a fling with Madonna and that he was put in jail for hitting some girl. But even when memory serves you right, you only know as much as the media tells you. Kind of why I was surprised to find myself mentally checking off a Sean Penn movie as the catch of the day.

From the get-go, "I Am Sam" had to be a difficult movie to make. There is a fine line between acting the role of someone with a mental "disability" and just outright making fun of them. Couple that with the human nature to see what one wants to see, and no doubt there will be controversy. No matter how heartfelt and real Sean Penn's performance comes out, someone will always be there to say that he (or even the audience, for that matter) is just there to "have fun" with the role.

If I hadn't known better, I would have thought Sean Penn really was of the type, because he played it flawlessly. The speech, the body language, the facial motions, it was all there. Honest to God, I don't see Sean Penn at all when I watch this movie; I see Sam.

If you are a big fan of the Beatles, "I Am Sam" is an ideal flick for which many of the Beatles' tunes make the perfect soundtrack. Although most of the tunes, from what I could tell, were actually covers of the Beatles' songs, they were all true enough to their original counterparts, and always came out playing at that perfect moment. The more I hear these songs as I watch it now on video (day after day), the more I fall in love with them.

The plot is simple enough. Sam, the king of the Starbucks store ("That is an excellent choice."), has to leave work early one day to make it to the hospital in time to witness the birth of his baby. When the doctor asks Sam what the baby's name will be, he says "Lucy in the sky with diamonds," and dubs his daughter "Lucy Diamond". Later, as he and the mother of the child are leaving the hospital, the mother (whom you later find out was a desperate homeless woman) blends in with the crowd and disappears, abandoning Sam with his child.

A few years pass, and Child Services finds out about Lucy and the conditions under which she is being raised. Since Sam has the mental capacity of a seven-year old, his daughter is soon on the way to becoming "smarter" than he is. The obvious conclusion (for them, anyway) is that she would be better off with foster parents. So the battle of the movie is Sam's to fight, to regain custody of his daughter.

Ever see sunshine inside a movie theater? Not likely, considering how dark they keep those places. Lucy Diamond keeps the place so bright, you better bring your shades. 'Cause I gotta tell you, that is one adorable little girl. Her maturity comes at a very young age, obviously. In one particularly touching scene, she pretends not to be able to read a certain word while reading a book to her father. Then Sam insists that she knows the word, and she tells him, "I don't want to be able to read it if you can't."

As the story progresses, Sam finds out that he has to get a lawyer to help him win the case. Unfortunately, Sam cannot afford a lawyer, so here comes Michelle Pfeiffer (I thought her appearance would never come!) Talk about a hot temper, this lawyer kind of reminds me of a chat handle I saw once in Talk City.. PMSN_24_7. She somehow just barely manages to have the time to manage all her cases, and now here comes Sam. It's the last thing a busy chick like her needs!

Of course, eventually she is taken in by Sam's plight, and agrees to defend him in court pro bono (for free). This is where the real question really starts to be confronted, of whether or not Lucy should continue to be raised by her father. Pfeiffer asks all the questions in court that you would want your own lawyer to ask if you were in Sam's shoes. Court scenes are hard to make interesting in a movie (unless Jim Carrey's involved), but in "I Am Sam" they are some of the best parts of the movie. Sam eventually gets on the witness stand himself. Different camera angles flash by, sometimes three or four in a second, and you feel as though you're right there inside his head.

So will Sam ever get to live peacefully with his sweet little girl again? (Send me eight bucks and I'll tell you.)

The movie is a head-on assault to the tear ducts, that much can be concluded. Sniffles could be heard throughout the audience for the entire last 30-45 minutes. Tears escalated throughout the place during a painful scene in which Sam & Lucy's time is "up", and they have to be physically pulled apart because they don't want to let go of each other :*(

On the other hand, nothing beats the scene where the guys are asking Lucy if she thinks her father can really provide her with everything she needs, and she responds, "All you need is love." Yeah, Daddy raised her right! (I knew she was going to say it.)

Sam gets a much-needed chance to tell his lawyer (hence, the world) what it's really like living with a handicap, and it all comes spilling out at once in a terrific release of anger, frustration, loneliness, and just about every painful feeling you can think of. Penn does a sweet job portraying the feeling that "everybody else is PERFECT except for me! You don't know what it's like when you try and you try and you try and you try and you NEVER get there!!!" Pfeiffer gets a chance to wail in return about what it's like being "perfect". I dunno, but it looked pretty damn real to me. So real in fact, it was almost scary. Like Michelle really had been through something like.. well, what she described.

The ending came kind of abruptly. Whether or not you will feel that everything was absolved I guess depends on whether you're content hearing the words from a person's mouth, or seeing the words brought to action. That's about the best way I can think to put it!

The only thing that I really am not too crazy about in the film is the blonde foster parent that turns up toward the end of the film; something just doesn't seem right about her. Her character gets no real introduction, and next thing you know, people are talking about a "Randy" and you have no idea who they are referring to.

If I were rating "I Am Sam" on a scale of one to four stars, I'd give it four. But on a scale of one to five, I still gotta go with four.

Recommended:
Yes

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12