January 24–31, 2002

movie shorts

I Am Sam

Grossly manipulative and as soppy as a wet towel, Jessie Nelson’s ruthless tearjerker ought to be taken out and shot, if you can find anyone who hasn’t suffocated in the snot. Sean Penn, whose performance would be the best thing about the movie even if the rest of it weren’t so thoroughly atrocious, plays Sam, a mentally retarded man whose custody of his 7-year-old daughter (Dakota Fanning) is challenged by the state, necessitating the entrance of career-driven but unsatisfied lawyer/mom Michelle Pfeiffer. The rest, as you might imagine, is pure glop, laced with the doses of relentless pseudo-cuteness. (Sam’s obsession with John Lennon is particularly boomer-friendly, as are the lifeless Beatles covers on the soundtrack.) The harder the movie tries to invoke tender feelings, the more contemptible it becomes.

—Sam Adams

(Narberth)