This is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. With relentless emotional manipulation piled on top of wooden acting & a dreadful script. See how bad the world treats Sam. See how good this simpleton is to his daughter. How pure his love, how corrupt & selfish the "normal" people are. Blah blah blah. Pass me that empty popcorn bag, I'm gonna hurl.<br /><br />It isn't that the story hasn't got a point, but that it is horrificaly overplayed, the message being delivered in industrial amounts. It's like expecting a teaspoon of sugar in your coffee & getting 2lbs of sacharrine dumped in it instead.<br /><br />The clumsy manipulation isn't limited to the script, with wooden, cliched characterization & oh so obvious directorial & cinemagraphic tricks. Notice how the scenes are technicolor when Sam is with his daughter, but have a cold, blue, almost monochrome color during the court scenes. Sublety seems<br /><br />not to be this film's strong point & wherever there is a chance to drive a point home with a sledgehammer the opportunity is taken to do so with obvious enthusiasm.<br /><br />Michele Pfiefer is normally watchable, but this has to be her first role where I couldn't bear to look. She does her best with the part, but ultimately the clunking story & dialogue leave her trying to shine while carrying a dead albatross round her neck. God only knows why she agreed to add this turkey to her resume. Maybe it seemed a good idea at the time. Maybe it simply paid well & the rent on her mansion was due.<br /><br />Sean Penn is simply diabolically bad, unconvincing & puke inducing as Sam. Laura Dearn ambles through looking like she's smelt something bad. The rest of the cast simply wallow around, subsumed by the crushing sentimentality.<br /><br />This whole film stinks. The one area where there is some very limited relief is the soundtrack, where Beatles tunes are played. Even here this is spoiled, for a start they're all pretty sub standard covers by other bands & even then we only get snatches.<br /><br />When you consider how many great film ideas never get anywhere you have to wonder just how this pile of poop ever got onto the screen. I gave it a "1" on the IMDB voting, but I would have given it a big, fat zero if I could have.