For the quickest way to join, simply enter your email below and get access. We will send a confirmation and sign you up to our newsletter to keep you updated on all your gaming news.
Join the GamesRadar community for quick access. Enter your email below and we'll send confirmation, and sign you up to our newsletter.
By submitting your information, you confirm you are aged 16 or over,
have read our
Privacy Policy
and agree to the
Terms & Conditions. Geographical rules apply.
Why you can trust GamesRadar+
Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.
Pay attention: thisis how to enjoy I Am Sam. Do not - DO NOT - go to the cinema expecting a realistic depiction of a family shredded by a court case. Put aside the slightest belief that this won't be a formulaic, sentimental, feelgood wallow. On no account must you: (a) hope to be surprised, (b) worry about plot details, or (c) expect anything other than the glossiest, most ostentatious performances.
Anyone who can't cope with this should toddle off to another screen. Go catch an action movie or indulge your critical sensibilities watching some Mike Leigh dirge. The rest of us can adopt a comfy foetal position and allow Jessie Nelson's film to gleefully pound away at our sentiment buttons. Mock all you like...
Sean Penn is Sam, a cleaner at Starbucks with an intellectual age of seven. Somehow - the hows and whys are never fully explained - he gets a girl pregnant and she vanishes, leaving him, ahem, holding the baby. Supported by his psychiatric-dictionary collection of mates (a Down's Syndrome sufferer, a paranoid, an obsessive-compulsive and so on), our loveable hero happily brings up daughter Lucy (Dakota Fanning) until she hits age seven. At which point the legal system takes an interest, removing Lucy to a foster home and forcing Sam to fight for her return in court, aided only by Michelle Pfeiffer's uptight lawyer.
Penn's entry into the crowded Disability Act category isn't half bad. No matter how cynical you are about this kind of blatant Oscar-coaxing (rewarded, in this case, by Penn's third Best Actor nom) it's never in doubt that you're watching Sam the character and not Sean the Dustin-Hoffman-in-Rain Man impersonator. The same can't be said about Pfeiffer, though, who delivers her standard brittle turn - but then she's not really the lead female.
That prize easily goes to Fanning as Sam's daughter. Cute without being cutesy, smart without being smart-arsed, she's the bright-eyed emotional heart of the film. Remember how good Kirsten Dunst was in Interview With The Vampire? This girl's easily that good.
Warm, sentimental and surprisingly funny, I Am Sam is a feelgood crowdpleaser. There's little new about it, but it's the kind of comfy security blanket we all occasionally need.
Your movies and TV digest from the team at GamesRadar+
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we’ve got you covered.
The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine.
