Just so...so bad

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

This movie will always occupy a special place in my heart. Outstanding acting by Sean Penn and young Dakota Fanning. Michelle Pfeiffer's smile stole my heart on this one. Fantastic storyline and direction. And an even better soundtrack by Hans Zimmer to embellish the fine movie.

It's my first review on IMDb,I hope it will be the first of the many to follow. I obviously loved this movie as I watched it again yesterday.I think i've watched it 4-5 times in bits and pieces,however I watched it all yesterday. It is a beautiful movie,very sentimental,makes one come in touch with his/her feelings and question the stupidity and the morale of both the 'common'people and the system. As for its flaws,yes there are some but that is beautiful,the movie is 15 years old and some of the...questions raised by the users' are irrelevant.Realism is not such an X factor here,personally I didn't care whether Sam was autistic or mentally handicapped.What I cared for was his unconditional love for everyone,his passion and his drive for life.What a fine example for everyone,great life lessons from a beautiful movie.Just watch it with open hearts and souls.

Like I said, this movie is the only one that ends happily, but made me cry like a baby. Actually, I'm not an emotional person at all, at least I didn't thought that I was, but this movie made me so sad, because I realised a couple of things from it. One of them and also a first one is that, it doesn't really matter how smart are you, or what you have in life, how reach you are....the only thing that really matters is how much love can you give to someone... That's the only think that matters. Thank you Sam for showing me that! Watch this movie, he will change you...change your views...and at the end, make you a better person. I know that it changed me and I'm thankful for that.

Sam Dawson (Sean Penn) is mentally handicapped. He has a daughter but the mother runs away right out of the hospital. He finds himself as a working single dad to Lucy Diamond Dawson (Dakota Fanning). He gets his reclusive neighbor Annie Cassell (Dianne Wiest) to help along with his mentally challenged friends. Calgrove (Loretta Devine) and the Department of Child and Family Services go to court with prosecutor Mr. Turner (Richard Schiff) and take Lucy from Sam. Sam finds Rita Harrison Williams (Michelle Pfeiffer) from the Yellow Pages who has trouble communicating with her own son. She relents to do the case pro bono.This is such a heart-wrenching movie. I really want it to work out for these characters but the movie doesn't make it easy to like it. The light comical tones get really annoying. Some of it is sort of cute but the movie really suffers from it. I don't want to laugh AT Sam and his friends. I want to laugh with them. And the movie is also trying very hard to manipulate the sentimentality. Sometimes less is more.While Sean Penn overacts sometimes, I still like his character. And who doesn't love Dakota Fanning's character. Pfeiffer is the overwhelmed working mother character. Then add Dianne Wiest to the mix. It's awkward at times. It tries way too hard but I want good things for all these characters. That carries the day for me.