I Am Sam

Jeff’s take

I have a lot to say in regards to my opinions on this movie. First of all, I don't know how anybody can stand to watch this given how emotional some of the scenes are. Having said that, the very beginning of the movie wasn't nearly as bad as what occurred about halfway through when reality started to hit the poor guy really hard and he was told he could only see his kids a certain number of times a week with supervised visits. While watching this movie, I was under the weather with a headache and I needed some Tylenol. As the pills started to work, I began to think that the negativity that was occurring within the movie was actually happening to me and that someone was telling me for whatever reason that I couldn't be around mom. I actually found myself cussing out the woman in the movie and telling her to go away. This was probably the pills working on me. Normally I wouldn't do this but I almost got emotional and started screaming "Don't take mommy away me," ETC which would have been weird for a person my age to do. This is despite my never ending and sometimes annoying admiration for mom, (at least in her eyes.) Luckily the pills wore off before it got that far. Despite returning to my normal self, I was still feeling a bit under the weather as my headache was still lingering and I was starting to doze off at certain points. This almost made it impossible for me to do this review. I was ready at one point to just give this movie a complete fail as I didn't think I would be able to finish it due to being so tired. However, the need to keep my word forced me to continue. That word would be that I made a commitment to reviewing all movies (good and bad) and I wanted to keep that commitment. After having to pause to use the bathroom though, I said enough is enough. I either wasn't going to review this movie at all or give it such a failing score that nobody would waste their money to watch it. At this point, I was going to leave this movie without a review as I felt like crying due to the thought of the same situation occurring between mom and I where a court calls into question mom's ability to care properly for me and places me in foster care as well. Once I talked to mom though, she convinced me to see the end of the movie citing the promise I made to everyone that once I said I would review a movie, it meant every movie. What gets me more than anything is what happened once I restarted the movie.

In a five second span, I realized a couple of things. First of all, the child's name is Lucy which is the same name as my mother, (albeit with a different spelling,) so therefore it reminds me of her in a way. Also, the efforts put forth by the father despite his disability to see his daughter just prove that he wants what's best for her. He's doing it out of love for her. Also, I noticed that his daughter sees him in the same way that mom's cat sees her. He is 100% devoted to her and always wanting to cuddle with her on the couch, ETC. I'm talking about the cat. Anyway, the child in the movie is about the same age as mom's cat in human years so there's a bit of a connection there. I then came to realize that there's actually a lot of aspects in this movie which remind me of mom, (of course starting with the child's name being Lucy.) Therefore I never thought I would do this in a million years but when you consider all of the good points within this movie, it has actually received a passing score. I had to dig down deep to obtain it but it was well deserved. It may not have earned it right away but it proves that sometimes it takes time to prove how good something can be.

All things considered, one thing this movie did teach me is to appreciate the fact that mom was able to care for me the way she did as I was growing up. These are things that I used to take for granted as a child but now I realize that I'm blessed to have had a great mother like I had, (and still have to this day,) growing up. I realize that not everybody is as lucky as I have been to have had someone who cares as much as she has and still does to this day. For that matter, I still feel lucky. I'm lucky to have a mother as great as I do and I'm lucky to have viewed this movie. It really taught me a lot about myself and how I should count my blessings to have everything good that I do in my life. This movie is definitely recommended!

Jeff O meter final score: 10 out of 10.

What works

• The father's efforts despite his disability prove he wants what's best for his daughter.
• It taught me a lot about myself and how I should count my blessings.

What to know before watching

• Not recommended for young children.
• Intense emotional scenes, courtroom drama, and children being placed in foster care.
• Mature themes throughout, mild coarse language, mild violence towards children.