I Am Sam

I Am Sam shows that love is the most important thing a person needs when raising a child all by themselves, regardless if they are mentally challenged. A person does not need to have an adult mentality in order to love another human being. Sam Dawson shows he has what it takes in order to raise his daughter.

Sam (Sean Penn) works at a local Starbucks as a dining room janitor. His mentality is that of a 7-year-old. After a one night stand with a homeless woman, he has to experience life as a single father. Right after their daughter was born, the homeless woman left him with the baby at the bus stop. Sam tries his best to provide for his daughter, Lucy (Dakota Fanning), by taking her out to IHOP and reading her Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. He named her after the Beatles song, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."

Once Lucy became 8 years old, government authorities felt they needed to step in since her mentality surpassed her father's. Lucy knew her father was different than others but this did not matter. She loved her father dearly. Dakota Fanning may only be pint size but her acting skills were just as amazing as Sean Penn's.

Social services ended up taking Lucy away from her father which led Sam to come across Rita Harrison (Michelle Pfeiffer), a powerful attorney who takes on Sam's case pro-bono. The only reason why she took the case was for her own selfish reasons. Rita wanted to show her colleagues she does in fact have a heart.

I must say Sean Penn is a versatile actor. He can take on many different roles. He could play a mentally challenged person in I Am Sam, an assassinator in The Assassination of Richard Nixon, or a homosexual man in Milk, and do it well.

I Am Sam lets the audience look at both sides of the controversy. However, a viewer could not help but sympathize with Sam in this movie, wishing everything turns out in his favor.