I Am Sam

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I Am Sam

PG-13

Released Jan 25, 2002

2h 12m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

35%

Tomatometer

145 Reviews

86%

Popcornmeter

250,000+ Ratings

"I Am Sam" is the compelling story of Sam Dawson (Sean Penn), a mentally-challenged father raising his daughter Lucy (Dakota Fanning) with the help of a unique group of friends. As Lucy turns seven and begins to intellectually surpass her father, their close bond is threatened when their unconventional living arrangement comes to the attention of a social worker who wants Lucy placed in foster care.

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Critics Consensus

Not only does the manipulative I Am Sam oversimplify a complex issue, it drowns it in treacle.

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Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

Moving film with great acting seems too contrived.

Rated: 3/5

Dec 24, 2010

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Empire Magazine

Rated: 2/5

Dec 30, 2006

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Sara Michelle Fetters

MovieFreak.com

Sean Penn may be the most gifted actor of his generation.

Rated: 3.5/4

Jun 19, 2003

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Michael Clark

Epoch Times

Penn never goes over the top with his speech, ticks, hand gestures, and all-around physicality. He doesn’t act like a mentally challenged man, he behaves like one: there’s a big difference between the two.

Rated: 4.5/5

Aug 10, 2022

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Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

Penn's performance deserved the Oscar nomination.

Rated: 3.5/4.0

Sep 11, 2020

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Nick Rogers

Midwest Film Journal

Sean Penn gives the most professionally shameful, cruelly wrongheaded performance ever nominated for a Best Actor Oscar, while Jessie Nelson Kristine Johnson's script lives down to Penn's ugly ineptitude with idiotic catchphrases and product placement.

Rated: 0/4

Sep 25, 2010

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Brooke W

I have never written a review for a movie before, however, this movie deserves so much credit. I love this movie so much, I see a common theme with rotten tomatoes giving wholesome movies terrible ratings. This movie proves it. Rotten tomatoes was wrong to give this movie such a low rating.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/14/24

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Teddy B

Soulless and thoughtless, 'I Am Sam' is made with too much purpose. It's trying to say something that's already been said before. Sean Penn's performance goes from slightly endearing to grating, which isn't helped by the extensive runtime that fails to justify its existence. Shoddy camerawork never works out unless under an explicit excuse, which this film doesn't seem to want to bring up. It's just a technique without meaning.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

09/19/24

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Audience Member

Whenever I see an audience rating over 80% with 250k reviews and the critics are below 40%, I know it will be a movie I will like. And this one, just like clock work, didn't disappoint. The "critics" need to get off of their high horse and take a good look in the mirror.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

09/03/24

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Audience Member

Heart warming film with great acting. Cinematography is very artistic but overall very watchable.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/06/24

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Jose O

love this movie. always gets me emotional

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/15/24

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MikaÃ«l O

One of the best picture ever done in movie history. Once again rotten tomatoes shows how incompetent they are at ratings movies.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/19/23

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Jessie Nelson

Director

Sean Penn

Sam Dawson

Michelle Pfeiffer

Rita

Dakota Fanning

Lucy

Dianne Wiest

Annie

Loretta Devine

Margaret Calgrove

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Synopsis

"I Am Sam" is the compelling story of Sam Dawson (Sean Penn), a mentally-challenged father raising his daughter Lucy (Dakota Fanning) with the help of a unique group of friends. As Lucy turns seven and begins to intellectually surpass her father, their close bond is threatened when their unconventional living arrangement comes to the attention of a social worker who wants Lucy placed in foster care.

Director: Jessie Nelson
Producer: Jessie Nelson, Richard Solomon, Marshall Herskovitz, Edward Zwick
Screenwriter: Kristine Johnson, Jessie Nelson
Distributor: New Line Cinema
Production Co: New Line Cinema, Bedford Falls Productions, Avery Pix
Rating: PG-13 (Language)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 25, 2002, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): May 18, 2011
Box Office (Gross USA): $40.3M
Runtime: 2h 12m
Sound Mix: Dolby Stereo, Dolby Digital, Dolby A, Surround, Dolby SR
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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