In director Jessie Nelson's soppy family drama Penn plays a father with developmental issues. While intentions are good I Am Sam is a hackneyed tale- despite affliction, father can care for his child, however, social services think otherwise - in which Penn pushes hard and heavy on the saccharine in order to jangle viewers' heartstrings. For every lukewarm moment shared between Sam and his buddies, or interactions with his daughter, there is a moment of high drama that calls for some cringe-worthy acting (why isn't Lucy going home with me?') and tortured posturing. This, and the fact a certain Kirk Lazurus dispelled Hollywoods reliance on mental health issues for story fodder with that killer line, is the main problem when viewing Penns overwrought and massively ill-judged performance on a rewatch. Despite getting a critical pounding, I Am Sam was sort of adored at the time of its 2001 release, enough to see Penn graced with an Oscar nomination for his performance, in what remains one of the Academy's oddest decisions to date. Unforgettable for a lot of wrong reasons. Has Penn been given a fair appraisal? Or are there some classic and not-so-classic performances we've missed? Please feel free to comment below.
Shaun is a former contributor for a number of Future Publishing titles and more recently worked as a staffer at Imagine Publishing.
He can now be found banking in the daytime and writing a variety of articles for What Culture, namely around his favourite topics of film, retro gaming, music, TV and, when he's feeling clever, literature.
