With its recognizable cast and string of flowery Beatles covers, one could treat "I Am Sam" with the laxity of just another surface-skimming tear-jerker. There is, however, an undercurrent within the film of something a little more edgy, a little more taboo.
Jessie Nelson's second large-scale directing attempt highlights both obvious and well-hidden human insecurities involving all types of parental responsibilities and inadequacies.
The main conflict in the movie centers on Sam Dawson, a middle-aged, mentally-challenged man with the intelligence of a first grader who must fight against the city for custody of his seven year-old daughter. Rita Harrison (Michelle Pfeiffer), a self-absorbed corporate lawyer, brazenly takes his case pro bono after subtle chides from co-workers about her selfishness.
Sean Penn portrays Dawson, the hyperactive and subtly compulsive autistic, with an arm-waving immediacy and shy demeanor mirroring that of Dennis Hoffman in "Rain Man." In many ways Penn plays into handicapped stereotypes with his claims of institutional abuse and inane giggles. It's easy for the audience to forget what is so miraculous about this disabled man -- that he, alone, has managed to raise a beautiful and intelligent seven-year-old.
Yet miraculous may not be quite the right word. After all, Nelson does conveniently leave out mention of just how Sam figures out to change a diaper or provide his daughter with the constant attention demanded by a human baby and not a doll.
His eccentric neighbor (Dianne Wiest) and quirky group of friends (none of whom are really more stable than Sam) often come to his rescue, but it is painful to watch the strange ease with which they manage to raise the little girl. Money is obviously an issue, yet his daughter Lucy, strapped to her father's belly as he busses tables at Starbucks, wears clothes one might find at the Baby Gap.
At age seven, Lucy, played by fair-haired child actress Dakota Flemming, attempts to shield her father from disappointment by stalling herself at his intellectual level. When it becomes evident to teachers that Lucy is terrified of learning and surpassing her father intellectually, a city social worker takes the case to court.
Penn has come a long way since the '80s, "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and his crash-course marriage to Madonna. After roles in commendable but less mainstream films such as "Hurlyburly" and Woody Allen's "Sweet and Lowdown," Penn joins the ranks of Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt by donating his talent to a more obviously moral cinematic endeavor.
Penn doesn't allow the heavy plot to consume him, however, and manages to distance himself and Sam from the sickeningly sweet feel-good message doled out in "Pay it Forward."
Nelson's dizzying camera whirls and musical carousel help by sending the audience spinning along with Dawson. Shopping for diapers becomes an endless trek down miles of pastel, plastic pink and blue aisles, public buses fly by almost without stopping and tiny cries in the night become piercing screams in the darkness.
Though the idea of Sam raising a child since birth is extremely far-fetched, such a disability juxtaposed beside the perfection of more "traditional" parents portrayed in the movie allows the audience to realize the ridiculousness of judging Sam, or anyone for that matter, on parenting skills alone.
Beautiful and successful Rita ignores her failing marriage and takes for granted her own son, letting out her anger and stress on her family. Pfeiffer struggles before eventually succumbing to Sam's message, lending more authenticity to the film. She eventually sees that affection, patience and devotion are more important than toys or I.Q. in the rearing of a child.
Nelson balances the abundance of unease with Sam's slow reasoning and the painful tenacity with which he color codes packets of sugar at his job at Starbucks and fights for his and Lucy's pure parent-child relationship.
Instead of just shoving another impassionate message about the importance of love down viewers' throats, Nelson touches on a much more powerful premise: the idea that legitimacy as a parent is indefinable. The movie may have gone in a much more interesting direction had Nelson further developed that point.
