i love this film and it absolutely speak to me in a way that few film i have see do . my big fear throughout be that at any moment the next scene would see sam ( sean penn ) and rita the lawyer ( michelle pfeiffer ) decide that the best solution to their problem would be if the both united in a marriage or pseudo marriage and so they could lay happy family and all live happily ever after and blah balh blah ad nauseum . thank god nelson have more sense to drop a large hunk of semi soft cheese into the middle of an outstanding masterpiece . such a cliched and trite twist would have aboslutely ruin the film for me . obviously and nelson do not want to pedestrianise her masterpiece and so consciously steer away from such a soap opera style conclusion . penn performance be highly commendable more rainman than forest gump . indeed and it represent what must surely be a turning point in his career direction . full credit also to young dakota fanning ( lucy ) who carry off a superb portrayal of her character and simply steal the movie . i will keep this short but suffice to say if you haven not see this film youre miss something big . not everyone will go to see this film but those who do will know that they have see a truely magnificent piece of cinema .