Final Score (average of various classical cinematic qualities):<br /><br />8.5 (out of 10)<br /><br />I shouldn't have liked this movie. Not at all. There's a part of me that thinks it just had to have been sappy, derivative and manipulative. Yet, from it's opening sequence- in which mentally retarded Sam is left on the street corner to care for his newborn daughter on his own- this thing grabbed me. The whole mentally retarded shtick has been done so to death in movies we sometimes forget what a good performance looks like. Sean Penn plays Sam as a real person, not a caricature, very much disappearing into the role. Surprisingly Michelle Pfeifer is almost equally good in her own. "I am Sam" in many ways becomes about Pfeifer's character, Rita and her feelings of inadequacy as a parent. Pfeifer and Penn are clearly parallels of the same person. It's like Director and co-writer Jessie Nelson is using Sam like a metaphor- he looks and acts how Rita (and many parents) feel most times. <br /><br />The plot concerns Rita fighting to help Sam keep custody of his daughter because as the state sees it foster care is better than a mentally retarded father. The acting all around is top notch. Richard Schiff also appears to just do what he always does, as does Laura Dern (a fantastic actress who just will not step into the spotlight- continually taking these near-cameo small roles at the peripheral of the stories). Little Dakota Fanning makes a huge impression as intelligent, spunky Lucy. She has some of the most memorable moments in the film. <br /><br />The Beetles music is perfectly suited, but I'm split on the visuals. On one hand it's nice for Nelson to do what she can to go the extra mile and jazz up the cinematography in a film that clearly doesn't need it. On the other hand the glossy camera work is sometimes distracting- pulling you out of the film to try to figure out what your looking at. She clearly wanted that documentary look, but this movie is about emotions, not celluloid. For better or worse, it looks like "Traffic". <br /><br />This movie is, by no means, a profound drama. It's melodrama, which is not a bad thing at all just a matter of taste. But it is just made so incredibly well. It isn't the typical Lifetime Movie dreck. It is genuinely funny at times and tear jerking others. While it's "courtroom" scenes are fairly standard, there are also some pretty imaginative sequences in here. The best of which is the finale- a low key, but adorable montage involving Lucy- it comes up on us when we least suspect and is the perfect way to end a movie like this. The characters are all wholly lovable, the moral is completely resonant and, while the pace occasionally drags, it's pitch is just perfect (it's crowd-pleasing but never quite panders). The dialogue is intelligent and seems honest. Most importantly it kept a cynical and jaded moviegoer like myself entertained for it's entire long length. A virtually flawless film for fans of the genera and non-fans might give it a chance and be pleasantly surprised.