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

fergusg 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.

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

Saiyan-2 When i was about 14 i saw Josh and sam for the first time, it was on showtime and i watched it because nothing else was on. Up until that day i had no idea of the open west. I was a city kid and of course the world revolved around my little neighborhood. But Josh and Sam took me away from that. show me there are places out there that aren't made of stone, and opened my mind to the beauty of the open road and what it really means to be free with no boundaries. Just out there in the cool night with no phones, no restrictions just your 1993 Pontiac candy apple red Grand Prix and home is toward the setting sun. This is a great adventure movie for kids and teens 15 and under especially for those with siblings and active imaginations. I highly recommend it.