That's What I Am

This movie is excellent, Students in school could learn a lot and it would teach them what bulling and being down right mean can do to a person. spreading ugly rumors about a person In this movie a teacher who had great skills to teach and the students who loved him. Saying that he was gay, or in the movie a homo. Just because he never remarried after his wife died. No facts, just someone wanting to hurt a person. Being the person in school that was bullied, and beat up, by students I can relate to this movie totally. One never knows about the hidden talent another person has. As shown in the talent show in the movie. This movie is a real eye opener to people who bully, and are just down right mean to other people. wonderful movie. I totally enjoyed it.

This film received a very positive review in the LA times so I rented it on Netflix where it can be seen well before it is released for sale. I have worked in education for over 40 years, so I particularly watch for films about school and teaching. I found this film to be more like an after-school special at first, with shades of Wonder Years, and was finding it too childish, as no middle schoolers used terms like "cooties" in the 60's. (More like 2nd graders maybe). But then the film turned more serious, and dealt with bullying and rumors of the teacher possibly being homosexual because he has been single for a long time, a notion fed by one of the bullies parents. One reviewer at this site decried that Ed Harris as the teacher should have resigned more in protest rather than quietly leave to visit his sister. But in the 60's, the society wasn't as tolerant of gays as today, and it would have seemed more wishful thinking than reality. The final 45 minutes were far better than the first scenes, and left me feeling I had seen a pretty good movie, albeit overly nostalgic and more like a TV movie. Still, I give it a 7, and think it is a worthwhile family film, especially for upper elementary and early secondary kids to watch with or without their parents. Ed Harris is very believable in his role, as is Chase Ellison and some of the other kids, who, unlike in most films about kids, actually looked about the age they were playing, instead of 3 or 4 years older.

Well i guess if you continue doing something eventually you will get better at it. Now i don't know if its either the cast hired on here or the WWE writers like i said are just getting better at it? Needless to say it was the best movie i have seen by the WWE as of yet. Actually it should be one i would suggest school's to acquire a copy of to show to their different class full of children as its portrays a great message on how to handle certain topics that unfortunately rear their ugly heads from time and time again. Homosexuality, bully ism and all prejudice against them. Now myself being a huge fan of the WWE's wrestling end of things i was brilliantly surprised by Randy Orton's role in this (even though if it is 5-10mins in total) film. I have seen Dwayne Johnson in the WWE's first feature Walking Tall, I even gave Cena a bit of credit for last year's Legendary but just watching Orton on screen and he just looked so natural doing it. I know there is a certain amount of acting in wrestling however they are not the best of actors however Randy seems like if he wanted to seriously think of another career if he ever got seriously injured he could quite definitely rely on acting to foot the bills. After some school bullies cannot get to their intended targets in school they take it upon themselves and make a compliant to their parents about the sexuality of their teacher Mr. Simon (Ed Harris) this causes a a parent in general who is much like his son to complain to the principal. So as you see the storyline just doesn't sit with the kids as the adults get a learning lesson throughout as well. Good family sit down movie!

This movie is excellent, Students in school could learn a lot and it would teach them what bulling and being down right mean can do to a person. spreading ugly rumors about a person In this movie a teacher who had great skills to teach and the students who loved him. Saying that he was gay, or in the movie a homo. Just because he never remarried after his wife died. No facts, just someone wanting to hurt a person. Being the person in school that was bullied, and beat up, by students I can relate to this movie totally. One never knows about the hidden talent another person has. As shown in the talent show in the movie. This movie is a real eye opener to people who bully, and are just down right mean to other people. wonderful movie. I totally enjoyed it.

i really cannot keep myself away from writing review here. this is one of a very few films that i would like to save it in my treasure box. every single character portrayed in this film are well played and lived up to their role. i really liked all the characters of this movie. i never liked almost all the characters in any movie before. my favorite character in this movie is obviously 'Mr.Simon'. there are many reasons why i like his character. the main reason is, i had an English teacher, who was very brilliant and every single student liked her. when 'Mr.Simon' said "i guess i just don't know how my private life has any bearing on my ability as a teacher" i couldn't help relating it to the situation my teacher had to face.. and other characters like 'Andy' 'Big G' 'Norman' every single character are very real.. which explains that it is a true story. The father son relationship between Andy and his dad was really good, which almost happens in every family. and the love story which runs in the movie between Andy and Mary is really lovable. the relationship between a teacher and a student is what attracted me the most. they say a teacher knows about a child better then its parents. it is very true. i witnessed it in this movie.. i really really liked this movie. i believe every student, teacher and parents should watch this movie. it is a family movie with a story (a real story of course).! a very beautiful movie with a wonderful cast and their amazing performance. i really couldn't find out any flaw in this movie. so, "it is an AWESOME movie, and that's what it is.!"

All the good work done in this film, and there is much to admire especially from Ed Harris as Mr Simon, was undone by the crass after- stories in the credits which completely destroyed the film's main message. The important message here was about dignity and integrity which bring their own rewards even in the light of what many would regard as failure. The eighth grade messages within the narrative and screenplay are so very well stated and acted out by an array of potential stars in the making, held together by the experienced Mr Harris who plays his part with extraordinary sensitivity. Mr Simon is the school's most popular teacher and yet there are "flaws" in his personal life because he doesn't fit the profile some parents would prefer, especially when he nails one student in the act of physical assault of another. Indeed the film plays hard on the idea of students flawed because they are more academically gifted than others, something I guess we have all witnessed on a school campus. The differences between people and their need to survive are all central to a plot that is threaded in many ways. And the film winds its way to a believable conclusion rather than one that may leave us with an artificially massaged happy nerve. Until the credits roll that is. And so up until the credits this film is worth a seven but with those darned credits in place I'm sorry guys but for me you ruined all that effort. Five out of ten.

This is a tender film because it deals with kids in eighth grade, just before high school, at the tender age of 14. At that age you have a certain number of kids, boys but also girls, who are cruel like devils, just because they are meeting with some difficulty in their life they cannot deal with and their pride made them take it down upon others and bully them. Cruelty is the most common goody these kids are living with and sharing. The film is done from the point of view of a rather short guy, shy and who is used to be told by his father he did not do what he was doing well enough and having to let his father finish it. He dreams of kissing the best-looking girl in the school. And his luck or rather un-luck, though it might have been his best luck ever, was to be paired by his literature teacher with the tallest, ugliest, red-headed smartest and most bullied guy in the class, in the school. That's the basics of the kid's story. One kid who is the friend of the main bully, is such an idiot and a racist that he panics one day because he is touched by the girl with dental braces. He then attacks her to get the curse off when the red-headed giant monster, Big G for most students, Stanley for some, gets him off his prey. That little, short small-minded imbecile just spreads the rumour that the literature teacher is a homo, as they said in 1965. His father and his mother are dumb enough not to know a rumour is nothing but a rumour and their kid has the worst possible complex imaginable. The teacher refuses to deny it and prefers leaving the school at the end of the school year to satisfy the rumourmongers. That's the gay part of the film. In 1965 the word "homo" was one of the worst accusations you could level at anyone but particularly at teachers and a rumour was just as good as proof. Don't believe that has entirely changed. Not yet, far from it. Look at the aftermath of the most segregational law I know, DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act enacted in 1996 under Bill Clinton. One of the two anti-gay acts he had passed in Congress and he enacted. One is down DADT, Don't Ask Don't Tell, and DOMA is still there and has produced the most ridiculous segregation you can imagine in a developed country today. They can't segregate for racial reasons or national reasons, though they still go on for religious reasons, but they compensate their frustration with segregation for sexual orientation reasons. And they block the only thing they can block: marriage. The film is eloquent about that kind of bigotry. The teacher has to run. The students can offer him a carful of flowers at the end of the year that won't change the bigots. They say homosexuality is a catching disease. But bigotry is not a disease and it is unmendable. Better reserve your place in a crematorium because that's alas the only solution. With time some may yield, but the die-hard bigots will only be satisfied with the smell of fire and grilled human flesh. Better be theirs after all since they like it. The students of course are hardly concerned by the rumour and they carry on with their business: kissing the girls they want to kiss, singing if they want to sing, desiring a life of achievement and success. The bullies generally end badly. In this film they did and it is supposed to be a true story so it is a good thing the main bully managed to get 10-15 years of state-paid vacation in a state penitentiary. Such stories happen everyday in schools, but unluckily a fair share of them end up badly and I am absolutely ashamed with it. We are still far away from a society of love when hatred and bigotry is still so present: Forty-one US states have banned marriage for same-sex couples in a way or another. Forty-one reasons not to vote for the Mormon Romney since the Mormon Church considers homosexuality as a disease that has to be cured with all possible means. Just like scientology by the way. Good morning all the bigots. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

A coming-of-age story that follows 12-year-old Andy Nichol (Chase Ellison), a bright student who, like most kids his age, will do anything to avoid conflict for fear of suffering overwhelming ridicule and punishment from his junior high school peers. That's what I am is a WWE film, which caught my attention because the film was actually amazing! The film, acting, and everything is all very real and captures middle school just as it is. I was very surprised by this and wish the average was a little higher than a 7. Parents to kids: The film touches very deep and suggestive materials that some might find no suitable. Not a problem for me, but as seeing how people can get a little strict about that stuff, just calling it out there. The acting is very good and very real and they took as I can see a long time trying to capture the emotions. Not really that great as I put it, but they did a very well job. And even to add on to that, this is a WWE film which is a big step up for them and if they could continue making movies like this, that'd be great. So. I highly recommend this to anyone who well has good taste in movies and can learn to surpass the WWE sign popping up before the movie. 7/10.

From the first words of this film you just know what you are in for: a "leave no cliché behind" clumsy attempt at recreating an "era." From the opening credits with TV ads and news reports of "those turbulent years" to the completely corny voice-over narration of the now-all-growed-up protagonist you know that you are in for a film about childhood seemingly written by someone who never had the experience himself. It's like the writer lived in the hospital during his formative years and only learned about this stuff from watching lousy 60s TV, or even worse, Happy Days which was a TV show depicting life in a fictional era. This movie is to adolescence in the 60s as Austin Powers is to spies of this time, except without the humor. Has there ever been a more cliché bully in all of cinema? Even if a bully like this one ever existed he would be more of a lame creation than a human being. A one dimensional socio-path doesn't even rate as a character in a crappy horror movie. There wasn't a single honest, authentic moment in this entire film.

There are so many "coming of age" stories out there now so do we really need another one? Yes, if it's done well and That's What I Am gets my vote for another addition to the genre. Right of the bat the opening narration and the time setting reminded me of The Wonder Years, an excellent coming of age series set in the 60s. I felt I was in familiar territory and wondered if this would follow the episodes of TWY, where an older Kevin would narrate a particular episode in his young life which ended with a valuable lesson being learned. I wasn't to be disappointed as there are quite a few lessons this movie teaches: prejudice, courage, dignity, friendship, honour and tolerance. The story's about a young "cool" kid being paired off with a social outcast, something which he's not very happy about. It might not sound like the most interesting premise and one would think that the movie would focus on their blossoming friendship but that's far from the truth. Instead, the story uses that point to focus on other issues in the 60s, issues that are mainstream and accepted today as norms but back then were new, and something to fear. There are several light moments, some dark ones, and some tear inducing moments that come at the right time and are just enough to make you smile and be glad that you watched the movie. The acting is very good all round. Ed Harris, the most known name in the movie, is excellent in his somewhat supporting role. And that's the way it should be because the movie's about the kids in the school and not him, just in the way the movie's not all about Andy and Big G. One thing seems to remain the same...the social classes in schools back then were no different to those today. Sure, there were no EMO kids, no Goths, or preppy kids but there were still distinctions that are not so different from what we see in modern set teen high school movies. All in all, this is definitely one to watch. If you liked The Wonder Years then you should definitely watch this movie as you'll feel right at home. This is one coming of age movie that will make you smile, and cry, and smile some more.