Samantha (Martha Plimpton) has a charmed life, mostly. She has two loving parents, a zest for life, and a great talent for playing the violin. On her 21st birthday, however, her parents drop a bomb when they tell her she is adopted. Innovative to a T, Samantha first plans her own suicide but ends up only blowing smoke. Next, she moves out of her parents' home and in with her old friend and fellow music student, Henry (Dermot Mulroney). Although their relationship is platonic, Henry is the proverbial boy next door who has stood by Sam through her adventurous childhood. This includes the time she almost drowned while re-creating a Houdini trick. Still reeling with discontent, Sam announces she can not even play the violin in Henry's quartet. Their college recital is weeks away. Henry replaces Sam's violin role with gorgeous Elaine and Elaine goes after Henry's heart. Can Samantha wake up and realize the reality of her parents' love and perhaps Henry's as well? This is little gem of a film with a quirkiness that is strongly appealing. Samantha is truly one who walks to a different drum beat and Plimpton does a fine job relating her antics. This is Mulroney's moment to shine as well, as his Henry is charming and touching and he does all of his own cello work. The rest of the cast is nice, the costumes eye-catching and the musical score is absolutely wonderful. If you like films that are something out of the ordinary, you will like Samantha. It has romance, beautiful music, and laughs, yes, but breaks the bounds of traditional comedy in a big way.
7 Reviews
Quirky comedy/drama with Martha Plimpton and a musical theme.
TxMike28 October 2002
Warning: Spoilers
Samantha was by any measure a very precocious girl. Always getting into some bind, like the time she had her friend Henry handcuff her in a chained trunk and pushed into the family swimming pool, "If Houdini can do it, I should be able too also." Or the time, dressed in a Supergirl costume tried to fly out the family tree and plunged straight to the ground. Samantha was smart and talented, a violinist.
Everything spins out of control when she finds out she was adopted. She leaves home, she doesn't think she belongs there, and becomes a guest of Henry, who says, "Sam, as long as you're going to stay here please don't run around naked. No, it doesn't bother me, just don't do it anymore." As she tries to make sense of her new situation and find her real parents. She carries a male and female mannequin with her, lectures them as her surrogate birth parents she never knew.
Then she realizes how rash she has been, throws away the mannequins, goes home, apologizes for her rudeness, and decides that life is pretty good after all. She even tells Henry, "I love you, and you know you love me too." Henry says, "yes, I do ... like a sister. And I like it that way." Meanwhile Henry's jealous girlfriend finds a baby hospital wrist tag "Helen Otto" in the old wicker basket baby Samantha was found in, and makes sure Samantha finds it. Getting a birth certificate, Samantha tracks down and surprises her birth parents, who were all smiles to see her, and calmly told her "Oh children were not in our plans, when you came along we just wanted to make sure we gave you to a nice family. What are you, about 18 or 19 now? Oh, 21, yes I remember, that's the year we bought the Astin-Martin."
All ends well, Henry and Samantha play the recital, and she realizes how well she has it with her "real" parents. Art and life often imitate each other. Martha Plimpton was born Martha Carradine, an out of wedlock child conceived in 1969 when her father (Keith Carradine) and mother were in "Hair" on stage. Later she took her mother's maiden name, Plimpton. Martha is one of the finer young female actors, delightful in films like "Running on Empty" and "Music From Another Room."
"Samantha" is a delightful movie, worth a watch.
Everything spins out of control when she finds out she was adopted. She leaves home, she doesn't think she belongs there, and becomes a guest of Henry, who says, "Sam, as long as you're going to stay here please don't run around naked. No, it doesn't bother me, just don't do it anymore." As she tries to make sense of her new situation and find her real parents. She carries a male and female mannequin with her, lectures them as her surrogate birth parents she never knew.
Then she realizes how rash she has been, throws away the mannequins, goes home, apologizes for her rudeness, and decides that life is pretty good after all. She even tells Henry, "I love you, and you know you love me too." Henry says, "yes, I do ... like a sister. And I like it that way." Meanwhile Henry's jealous girlfriend finds a baby hospital wrist tag "Helen Otto" in the old wicker basket baby Samantha was found in, and makes sure Samantha finds it. Getting a birth certificate, Samantha tracks down and surprises her birth parents, who were all smiles to see her, and calmly told her "Oh children were not in our plans, when you came along we just wanted to make sure we gave you to a nice family. What are you, about 18 or 19 now? Oh, 21, yes I remember, that's the year we bought the Astin-Martin."
All ends well, Henry and Samantha play the recital, and she realizes how well she has it with her "real" parents. Art and life often imitate each other. Martha Plimpton was born Martha Carradine, an out of wedlock child conceived in 1969 when her father (Keith Carradine) and mother were in "Hair" on stage. Later she took her mother's maiden name, Plimpton. Martha is one of the finer young female actors, delightful in films like "Running on Empty" and "Music From Another Room."
"Samantha" is a delightful movie, worth a watch.
Another failed bid by Martha Plimpton to break into the youth market...
moonspinner5512 March 2006
Martha Plimpton has done some prestigious movies, working with River Phoenix and Harrison Ford, but she was never able to expand her limited, tomboyish appeal into the same class as, say, Molly Ringwald. This film, which was barely released, is just an extension of her late '80s/early '90s attempts to find a screen-persona which was identifiable to moviegoers, and it represents another failure. Plimpton plays a troubled young woman who finds out on her 21st birthday that she was adopted and--worse than that--was actually abandoned as an infant on her parents' doorstep! She sets out to find her biological mother and father, but the viewer has no clue why she'd even want to (would simple curiosity give her this much determination?). Unattractive material given sitcom handling; it starts off on the wrong foot and never recovers. Plimpton gives a sour, surly performance, but Hector Elizondo and Mary Kay Place are fine as her adoptive parents. *1/2 from ****
Interesting film, I liked it
MilB1229 September 2003
This wasn't a bad movie, and a premise I've yet to see. It's about a young lady who finds out on her 21st Birthday (I might be wrong on the age) that she is adopted. The bulk of the film deals with her multiple identity crisis's that may have been the inspiration for the South Park episode in which Cartman goes through the same situation in finding out who his father is. There isn't much of a flowing story line, but the characters are interesting, and develop well throughout the film. I wouldn't nominate it for an oscar or anything, but it's hardly a bad film. If you see it's coming on television, check it out, or maybe even rent it. You won't feel ripped off.
A story about a talented violinist in search of herself through her birth parents.
starchip8324 September 2003
Samantha is a film about an exceptionally talented violinist (Martha Plimpton) who, on her 21st birthday, discovers that her parents did not give birth to her but rather found her on their doorsteps. Feeling that she has lost her true identity because she has been living a lie she goes in search of her birth parents driving everyone crazy including her best friend Henry (Dermot Mulroney) who she is not so secretly in love with and alienating her violin instructor not to mention the parents she has known her whole life. I thought this was a fun movie even though Samantha was a maniac. I'm still in awe that Dermot Mulroney plays the cello in real life!
an unusual surprise
jesse-4424 June 1999
Dermot plays a mean cello!
JimJazz31 July 2001
I caught this little gem on HBO once, and being an instrumentalist, was impressed with how well Dermot Mulroney seemed to handle the cello. Often, actors handle an instrument as if they've never touched one before (see Richard Dreyfuss in "The Competition". . .he played the piano as if it was going to BITE him.)
I assumed that Mulroney actually DID play, and I was right. In Melissa Etheridge's new book, there is a photo of Dermot at the cello. . .he played on a cut from one of her albums.
Do you know of other stars that play instruments? Here are some that I know of. . .
Phyllis Diller (Piano) Dudley Moore (Piano and Organ) Kaye Ballard (Flute) Lori Singer (Cello) Peter Weller (Flugelhorn) Warren Beatty (Piano) Clint Eastwood (Piano)
send me more!
I assumed that Mulroney actually DID play, and I was right. In Melissa Etheridge's new book, there is a photo of Dermot at the cello. . .he played on a cut from one of her albums.
Do you know of other stars that play instruments? Here are some that I know of. . .
Phyllis Diller (Piano) Dudley Moore (Piano and Organ) Kaye Ballard (Flute) Lori Singer (Cello) Peter Weller (Flugelhorn) Warren Beatty (Piano) Clint Eastwood (Piano)
send me more!
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