If you're after a bit of weep then I Am Sam might do the job, judging by some of the other patrons in the cinema. It didn't have that effect on me, but then I'm not a fan of middle of the day TV soaps either.
I Am Sam is about a mentally slow father called Sam played by Sean Penn. His daughter at 7 years of age is starting to help him with his reading. Family services set their sights on the problem and decide that Sam can't be expected to raise his daughter on his own.
Sam loves his daughter Lucy. Lucy (Dakota Fanning) loves him. Sam persuades Rita, a high octane lawyer to plead his case. Rita is played by Michelle Pfeiffer and Rita is selfish, greedy and a poor mother to her own son. Rita only takes on the job because she's shamed into it by her co-workers.
So you can see the set up.
Will Rita become softened by her experience with Sam and his case? Will she even have a close relationship with her client. And what of the opposition?
Will Family Services, represented most forcefully by the opposing lawyer Turner played by Richard Schiff, be out and out baddies?
And what of the little girl Lucy. Will she find love elsewhere, perhaps with foster parents? Or will they be the rapacious, money grubbing, nasty child beaters usually coughed up in films like these.
I Am Sam does have the virtue of not playing the characters straight down the line, except unfortunately for Sam. Sean Penn is a masterful actor and director. The Crossing Guard, The Indian Runner, Dead Man Walking, She's So Lovely and U Turn have revealed an actor of distinction.
So why should he play a necessarily one dimensional character like Sam? Didn't Edward Norton turn that one on recently in The Score?
There was however a scene in I Am Sam that for me was very effective. Sam is trying to add up money and it's very difficult for him. His struggle was obvious, especially because he knew that other adults did that task much better. He knew that others were much smarter. That was revealing.
However I Am Sam overall was too glossy, perhaps not bleak enough, especially when the glamourous Michelle Pfeiffer character blasted onto the screen.
I Am Sam could have been mistaken for The Old And The Desperate or some such.
2 Glum Flys Out Of Five
I Am Sam is about a mentally slow father called Sam played by Sean Penn. His daughter at 7 years of age is starting to help him with his reading. Family services set their sights on the problem and decide that Sam can't be expected to raise his daughter on his own.
Sam loves his daughter Lucy. Lucy (Dakota Fanning) loves him. Sam persuades Rita, a high octane lawyer to plead his case. Rita is played by Michelle Pfeiffer and Rita is selfish, greedy and a poor mother to her own son. Rita only takes on the job because she's shamed into it by her co-workers.
So you can see the set up.
Will Rita become softened by her experience with Sam and his case? Will she even have a close relationship with her client. And what of the opposition?
Will Family Services, represented most forcefully by the opposing lawyer Turner played by Richard Schiff, be out and out baddies?
And what of the little girl Lucy. Will she find love elsewhere, perhaps with foster parents? Or will they be the rapacious, money grubbing, nasty child beaters usually coughed up in films like these.
I Am Sam does have the virtue of not playing the characters straight down the line, except unfortunately for Sam. Sean Penn is a masterful actor and director. The Crossing Guard, The Indian Runner, Dead Man Walking, She's So Lovely and U Turn have revealed an actor of distinction.
So why should he play a necessarily one dimensional character like Sam? Didn't Edward Norton turn that one on recently in The Score?
There was however a scene in I Am Sam that for me was very effective. Sam is trying to add up money and it's very difficult for him. His struggle was obvious, especially because he knew that other adults did that task much better. He knew that others were much smarter. That was revealing.
However I Am Sam overall was too glossy, perhaps not bleak enough, especially when the glamourous Michelle Pfeiffer character blasted onto the screen.
I Am Sam could have been mistaken for The Old And The Desperate or some such.
2 Glum Flys Out Of Five