Josh and S.A.M.

This is one of my favorite movies. It is about two brothers, Josh and Sam. Their parents are divorced. Their dad is remarried and seems to like his stepchildren more than Josh because they are athletic and Josh isn't and he doesn't appreciate how bright Josh is. Their mother is getting married to a man who isn't interested in the kids. Sam is the younger brother. He is athletic but is always getting in fights and generally has trouble adjusting socially. Josh persuades Sam that he is a S.A.M. (Strategically Altered Mutant), designed to fight a war in Africa. It starts out as normal sibling torture but Sam believes it because it explains all his social problems. Josh wants to run away because of his horrible home life and Sam wants to run away to avoid going to war. Watching Josh's mind work as he tries to get out of the situations he creates is hilarious and yet it always stays realistic, suspenseful, and poignant. The acting is excellent and the story is tightly constructed. Hopefully this movie will come out on DVD some day but watch it on VHS now.

Josh and Sam is actually a brilliant film. It is unfortunate that it has been panned by so many who fail to understand it and refuse to give the film a fair shake. History will redeem this movie; it is one of the best I have ever seen.

The soundtrack alone would make this movie worth seeing. Thomas Newman (Fried Green Tomatoes, Shawshank Redemption, Road to Perdition) is one of Hollywood's best musical talents, and he scores Josh and Sam beautifully in his trademark hypnotizing style.

Many people are too hard-hearted to appreciate films like Josh and Sam, but that is no reason to say that it is a 'bad' film. It is a tender film. But a good one. And it is internally consistent. Psychologically true. The real fault of Josh and Sam is that it had incredibly bad marketing. "Why run away from home when you can drive?" Whoever thought that tagline up should be shot. And the box cover for the VHS was just as ridiculous. In fact, based on the marketing, I am surprised that I ever watched Josh and Sam, but my brother had somehow seen it at random and after literally years of persuading he finally got the rest of us to watch it. We were blown away.

Josh and Sam is not a children's film, it is just an old style family friendly movie. A throwback to a time before our social entertainments had become commodified and delineated by target demographics. In that sense, as far as genre goes, it is the same type of presentation as J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels -- it has something to offer viewers of all ages.

I would happily pay $50 for a proper widescreen DVD of Josh and Sam. It's sad that the movie has never been released on DVD. But, considering how the film was sold, it's not entirely surprising. Josh and Sam is an emotionally complex film about brothers running away from home and getting in over their heads. More "A River Runs Through It" than "Spy Kids", this is a movie, first and foremost, about human relationships.

Among people who have actually seen it, Josh and SAM has a lot of fans. In fact, it is quite a minority who actually think it is a BAD film (check the votes). "Josh and SAM" isn't for everyone, but it is a very good movie.

'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.

I remember watching "Josh and S. A. M" back in high school and loving it. I didn't realize then why I loved it so, but today I clearly know why. Josh (Jacob Tierney) had achieved what I could only hope to. I am an older brother and I was somewhat tyrannical and manipulative. That was when I was a kid and I'm nothing like that today, but I would have loved to come up with the mindbleep Josh did.

Josh was the black sheep of his family. His dad (Stephen Tobolowsky) wanted him to be tougher, his step-brothers picked on him, and his brother Sam (Noah Fleiss) didn't like him. In order for Josh to feel superior to his younger more athletic brother, Sam, he convinced him that he was a machine built for war. He told him that his name was an acronym for Strategically Altered Mutant and that he was supposed to fight in a war in Africa soon at the behest of the government. He had Sam so solidly hooked that he couldn't even convince him that he made the whole thing up. I only wish I could've been so clever.

Josh's lie grew wings and took flight. Sam wanted to escape to Canada to avoid being used for war and no one was going to stop him. Josh himself was on the run as well for what he believed he did to a man. This caused the two of them to go on an adventurous road trip where they picked up a girl named Alison (Martha Plimpton) who only helped cement Sam's beliefs. I laughed at the three of them all along their uproarious journey that served only to make the brothers closer.

Children and Parents need to see this,

Children need to see this as to know what NOT to do, what not to believe. And that their Actions can have severe consequences.

Parents need to see this to see just how devastating to their Children their actions as parents can be.