Do you seriously think this was a good film? Because there's no reasonable person in the world that would trust the care of that child to someone as mentally challenged as Sam. That's why the film was a failure, imo. It asks too much of the audience. But I'll upvote for the value of debate.

Yeah I do, cos films don't always have to reflect real life word for word. There are mentally disabled people out there who do have children, working with them myself for a while I had a colleague who had a day job in a centre to help these guys learn basic parenting skills, which is more than most parents get. I honestly don't know if they were as challenged as Sean Penn is in this film. Also, any film that raises awareness of issues such as these is a plus. The acting from the whole cast is brilliant, the subject matter is adorable. So yeah, again, I love this film

Fair enough. The film has excellent performances, no doubt, and there's an emotional element to the story that is undeniable.

FYI: I saw this film about 3 months ago. Sam is a big fan of The Beatles, which provide the film's central premise that "all you need is love" but this movie takes it literally! In the world of this film, all you need is love. It's clear that Sam loves his daughter but I'm not so sure that's the only prerequisite to raise a 7 year old. There are, in actuality, other things to consider.

Now, if Sam could function at a slightly higher-level, thus providing a better balance between the premise and feasibility, it might have worked. To be clear, I do not fault Sean Penn in this regard, I fault the director who was ultimately responsible for guiding the depth of Sam's disability.

So basically, the film's trust in its own premise was so at odds with my powers of suspension of disbelief, the story fell apart. And I've enjoyed many films where those powers have been really really taxed: I'm no reality prude.

I HATE Dakota Fanning.

GREAT movie

Most people don't know Sean Penn is retarded in real life. Sam would never go to Iraq to comfort and defend Saddam Hussein.

I really wanted to see this movie, but the "MTV Grind"-style shaky cam completely turned me off of it. I only made it about 3 minutes in.

Sean Penn: Everyone around him is a better actor....Because his only ever-role bees Hact!

(in this one, full-retard)