Rita HarrisonIn danger of losing custody, Sam gets advice from his friends and also hires a lawyer, Rita Harrison (Michelle Pfeiffer), whose absorption in her work and neglect of her son reveal her to be at least as disabled as Sam is, although in a socially acceptable way.
autismMoreover, the character seemed to encompass virtually every stereotype of a person with autism. Today, in “I Am Sam,” Sean Penn plays Sam Dawson, a father with mental retardation raising his young daughter, Lucy, who is developing typically and whose cognitive abilities are rapidly eclipsing those of her father.
Joseph Rosenberg and Brad Allan Silverman, two of the actors who are part of Sam's circle, actually have disabilities. Although Pfeiffer was worried about the perilous combination of a tight shoot, a child who can work only eight hours a day and men with disabilities, she ended up pleasantly surprised.
At the end of the movie, Randy (the foster mother) realizes that Sam does truly love Lucy and is a fitting parent so she surrenders Lucy to him and says she will offer her support to him at the court hearing.
Rita begins to learn something basic about the human heart when she meets Sam, a mentally challenged adult whose case she takes on pro-bono. Personality… fast-talking, high-flying and far too busy. Rita is the kind of Hollywood lawyer who lives for work and nothing else– not that she's proud of this arrangement.
The main issue of the movie was that the main character Sam has an Intellectual disability and he is struggling to take care of his daughter. Intellectual disability is a disability that interferes with a person's cognitive abilities and the functions they use in everyday life.
The film itself received mixed to negative reviews, however, some critics have praised it for focusing on a “real” autist, a man who's holding down a job, has a social life, is raising a child etc- aspects of life that are often ignored or overlooked in media portrayals of autism.
Other children tease her for having a "retard" as a father, and she becomes too embarrassed to accept that she is more intellectually advanced than Sam. In preparation for a custody case, a social worker turns up at Lucy's birthday party and takes her away, allowing Sam two supervised visits per week.
Sam's unconditional love for his daughter and solid support system allow him to be an exceptionally good father. All goes well until Lucy reaches 7, the level of Sam's mental capacity, and she starts surpassing his limited intellect and begins to resist learning so as not to outstrip her beloved parent.
Sam Dawson (Sean Penn), a mentally challenged man with a mind of a child, is living in Los Angeles and is single-handedly raising his daughter Lucy (Dakota Fanning), whom he fathered from a homeless woman who wanted nothing to do with Lucy and left him the day of her birth.
Sam Dawson (Sean Penn) is a mentally-retarded forty year-old man with autistic tendencies who earns a living by working as a janitor at a local Starbucks.
A neighbor teaches him how to care for Lucy, and his friends provide some emotional and tangible support for him. Eventually, even the foster family becomes a strong support. The foster family decides to support Sam's desire to have Lucy returned to him, and they agree to be supportive to him in the reunification.