"Kramer vs. Kramer" meets "Rain Man" in this abomination passing as a movie; it is indeed one of the worst films I've seen in the last few years. In "I Am Sam," Sean Penn plays a retarded man raising his 'normal' daughter, played by Dakota Fanning. Of course, the government tries to take the child away and cold, big shot lawyer Michelle Pfeiffer unwillingly defends Penn, pro-bono. You know how this is going to end. Nearly every cliché is offensive. Pfeiffer's career woman is a bitch (is there any other kind of powerful woman?), the retarded man is a better person than the nasty, simple minded 'normal' people, the government doesn't know anything about love, etc. And it gets worse before it gets better. Penn's Oscar nomination is an example that Academy voters don't know bait when they see it. The impressive large cast cannot save this piece of maudlin drivel. Avoid!