Josh and S.A.M. (1993)

Too much of everything

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

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 was my favorite movie growing up. The fantasy of being free from parents and the fantasy of being able to drive are what drew me to it. This movie made the red Pontiac Grand Prix an icon for me. Every time I see one, I think of this movie, still to this day. I've recently re-watched it as an adult after not seeing it for a good 18 years, and realized I never understood the plot. After seeing it as an adult, it's still a great movie. The plot is original and for the most part, believable, although the scene where Josh convinces the guy that he's his long lost son, you'd have to be real naive to believe him, but I guess on the believable side, he was drunk, and the character did seem pretty naive. Another scene on the unbelievable side is the scene with the cop, when Josh & Sam are sitting on the picnic bench having lunch with the Liberty Maid, and the cop asks to see her ID for no reason, very illegal and very unlikely to happen. I grew a distaste to Josh for what really is brainwashing his little brother and putting him in such a dangerous situation for what seemingly is for selfish reasons. Josh is really a sociopathic liar who repeatedly gets caught in his lies and uses more lies to cover his tracks. As an adult, I really don't like Josh, and I don't feel sorry for him. As a kid, you really don't notice it. Anyways, good movie, wish it weren't so rare and unknown.

This sort of "Thelma & Louise" for kids might be fun if you're a kid, since most of them get easily impressed with anything. Doesn't make much of an effort on grown ups but it has its charm, its fun moments and its few acceptable original ideas. I saw it as a fun version of "Radio Flyer" but without achieving its magic and realism."Josh and S.A.M." tells the story of two runaway brothers Josh (Jacob Tierney) and Sam (Noah Fleiss) escaping from their problems at home, living with their dad (Stephen Tobolowsky), recently separated of his wife (Joan Allen) who is about to marry her French boyfriend (Roland Guttman). Josh and Sam don't have much of a fun living with dad since he has two other kids from his current marriage, and they're terrorizing bullies to their "new brothers". The story gets twisted, entering like a dramatic adventure when Josh says to his brother that he was genetically modified by his father as a Pentagon developed experiment to be used in wars (that's why S.A.M. in the title), so they're route to freedom ends up being than just mere running away from house problems but also because Sam can be found by the manufacturers and sent to a conflict in Africa. During their journey they make up stories, think they killed a man (Chris Penn) after an incident, and join forces with a girl (Martha Plimpton) of whom Sam thinks she's the 'Liberty Maid', a helpful source who gather people like Sam to hide underground (another story made up by Josh). Often dry in its humor and lacking of energy in its agitated sequences, the movie is a little dreadful, very tiring and always turning to places and situations we don't feel too much enjoyed with. And if it works for the most part it's because of Tierney/Josh smartness and creative ways to save the day while Sam keeps being one of the most annoying kids ever presented on screen with a pretentious, imaginative and unexplained intelligence, trying to be the brightest kid on Earth. It's very believable that an older brother would fake stories to involve his younger brother into something but the opposite while wanting to be wiser than wisdom itself, just doesn't work. This isn't a statement about kids not being smart or intelligent, it's just that the movie presents them with unconvincing dialogs and quotes, strangely unsuitable for a child, and if we can't believe in the story, if we can't buy its idea then the movie has failed. With your belief suspended, this even manages to be fun here and there. Yes, it's a problematic plot but the film rises above some of its obstacles (even if it has to drag the viewers through strange moments). Worths a view due to the cast reunion, most of them are enjoyable in their roles - special part of this, Jake Gyllenhaal plays quite an ironic role, if taken into consideration some of his future roles, so pay attention to him, specially at the dinner scene. A little special, a little cute and fun for a Sunday afternoon. 6/10

'Josh and SAM' is an interesting little film that deals with a variety of issues in a manner that draws in the audience and endears them to the characters.It revolves around two young brothers, twelve-year-old Josh and seven-year-old Sam, who live with their divorced mother. When she goes on intends to marry her fiancé and relocate to France, the boys are shipped to Florida to live with their father Thom. Although he doesn't intend to, Thom can't help but favour the sporty and energetic Sam over his quiet, geeky elder son and things turn even more sour for Josh when he clashes with his stepbrothers and then learns of his mother's plans to leave them. Bitter at the world, Josh tells his brother that he is a 'SAM', a robot child soldier who must escape to Canada before he is shipped to fight in the war-torn depths of Africa. And when Josh thinks he's accidentally killed a man, he puts his plan to runaway into action.The two young leads, Jacob Tierney as Josh and Noah Fleiss as Sam, give excellent performances despite their ages and relative inexperience in acting. Tierney portrays Josh's anger and jealousy as well as his vulnerability while Fleiss is effective in depicting Sam's naivety and love/hate relationship with his elder brother.This is a film that is not only a Boys' Own adventure that takes the two brothers across the country but it is one that looks at family relationships (fraternal bonds as well as dysfunctional parenting and the turmoil of step-families) and the coming-of-age of a pre-adolescent who is very insecure in his world. Although 'Josh and SAM' is obviously aimed at a younger demography, I imagine older teens and adults would enjoy it too as I certainly did both when I saw it aged about thirteen and again when I saw it again around twelve years later. It's a film that has something for everyone and is definitely one of the better lesser-known films of the Nineties.

This is a light-hearted coming of age story that manages to succinctly weave the dark undercurrents of bad parenting into the mini-adventure. Centered around 2 siblings, Josh & Sam is a very charming and watchable family film peppered with some good, funny moments, that should raise a chuckle or two.Constantly being shipped from back and forth, between their divorced parents, takes it's toll on Josh and Sam and eventually reaches breaking point when their mum decides to marry and live in France for a year with a French guy. Leaving them with no option but living with their father and his new family. For Simpson fans, their fathers character bears an uncanny resemblance to Ned Flanders without the moustache. You're just waiting for him to say okily-dokily.The older of the two siblings invents an outlandish story and persuades his younger brother, whose character was brilliantly delivered by Noah Fleiss, to go on the run together heading for the "sanctuary" of Canada to avoid been sent to Africa as a child warrior. Of course the younger Sam swallows the story hook, line and sinker and off they go meeting up with the, exceedingly delicious Libert Maid, Alison (Martha Plimpton) along the way.Josh & Sam reminds me of the Irish movie called "Into the West" which managed to weave some old Irish myths and legends into the story. Both are charming and both are watchable. Both are not the sort of films that I would pick out of a a rental store shelf, but, if you stumble across them on TV both have great child acting performances. Both Tierney and Fleiss carry this with a little help from Martha Plimpton.