There's nothing worse than a film that seems to be pandering to Oscar. I Am Sam feels like such a movie. While it attempts to tackle tough subject matter, this processed tear-jerker never really rings true.

Sean Penn is Sam, a mentally challenged man who finds himself battling in court over the custody of his daughter, cute little Lucy (Dakota Fanning), whom he fathered with a homeless woman. Coming to Sam's aid is a brash lawyer played by Michelle Pfeiffer, a complicated woman who seems to have problems of her own.

Penn is one of the best actors around, but here, he seems to be phoning in most of his performance. He has the mannerisms and dialect down, but it was almost like he was doing an impression. You have to buy Penn as Sam or the film cannot work, I didn't. Pfeiffer, who has the less showy role in the movie, is very effective. Her emotional explosion towards the film's end feels real. I also liked smart and natural Fanning as Sam's daughter. She's cute, intelligent, and honest in the role.

Bad directing and bad writing keep I Am Sam from working. Very little in this picture feels real. The court scenes lack power because the state seems right in their decision to put Lucy in foster care. Sure, Sam cares and he is a loving human being, but is he able to care for an eight year old? The answer is clearly no. This is well established in the film. He gets stressed making coffee at work, and that pales in comparison to the trials and tribulations that come with raising a child. This is hard enough work for someone who isn't mentally challenged. So the big argument in the movie is what's more important? Love or the ability to make good decisions. The answer, quite obviously, is both. I Am Sam, however, refuses to see things that way culminating in a ending that seems fulfilling in a fairy tale sort of way, but is not at all realistic.

I found myself questioning far too much in I Am Sam. What happened in the first seven years of Lucy's life? We see how Sam is taught to feed her when her mother up and leaves, but that's about it. Are we supposed to believe that no one ever saw what was going on until Lucy turned eight? This is clumsy storytelling. The movie is full of stuff like this. And while there are moments in I Am Sam that are effective, the bad stuff outweighs the good.

I Am Sam is certainly well intentioned but it's hardly honest in it's execution. While I liked it more than Gary Marshall's similarly themed The Other Sister, this picture lacks realism. And even though I liked some of the performances, I never felt that I Am Sam really amounted to anything. It sugar-coats a scenario that really should be taken far more seriously.

On a side note, the soundtrack (featuring Beatles covers) is fantastic although many of the songs don't fit in the context of the film. The screenwriter was obviously a fan of The Beatles, but is unable to successfully weave his passion into the film.