Pluskylang Great Film overall

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Rexanne It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

rllinlacs 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.

Rodrigo Amaro 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

Ryan Harder *Potential Spoilers*I first saw this movie 10 years ago and didn't pay much attention to it at first and I came across it 8 years later in a bargain bin. I tell you it is a very good unknown movie, I know that it does have a few questions about the two boys going AWOL but it was quite hilarious in some scenes. Like who would have thought that they would steal a car and take a lot of money out of ATM machines and smuggle themselves in another country, but the scene where Sam wears a Kotex pad across his head cause Josh could not find band-aids is a classic moment in this movie, it sucks that this movie is real forgettable despite the presences of Joan Allen as the stuck up mom, Steve Toblowsky as the father and Chris Penn as the drunk man who's rental car the boys steal. Like i said it's a good movie to watch and i recommend anybody who comes across it to buy it, it's worth it 8 out of 10 on my scale

Michael O'Keefe Josh(Jacob Tierney)and Sam(Noah Fleiss)are brothers upset with the news of their parents splitting. They cope with taking off on the road and meeting up with the affable Martha Plimpton. This movie is scattered with comedic situations, but not enough to make for a memorable movie. Also in the cast are: Stephen Tobolowsky, Joan Allen and Chris Penn.