Good Sam (2019 film)

Good Sam is a 2019 American drama film.[1] The film is a Netflix Original based on Dete Meserve's book of the same name and follows the events of the happenings surrounding an unknown good Samaritan ("Good Sam") who leaves cash on seemingly random doorsteps. The investigative news reporter Kate Bradley (Tiya Sircar) tries to find out Good Sam's true identity.[2]

Good Sam
Directed byKate Melville
Produced by
Written by
  • Teena Booth
  • Dete Meserve
Based onGood Sam
by Dete Meserve
Starring
Music byMario Sevigny
CinematographyEric Cayla
Edited byIsabelle Levesque
Production
company
Distributed byNetflix
Release date
  • May 16, 2019 (2019-05-16)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited States

Plot

Set in NYC, the film is about Kate, a TV reporter for Channel 12 who stumbles upon a story about a series of mysterious, seemingly unconnected 100,000 dollar donations.

The first recipient, Christina, is an older woman who recently had a lot of financial problems. The second, Maria, is a wealthy oncologist, who plans on donating it toward research. The third, Jesse, is a carpenter, recovering financially from a work-related accident. And the fourth, Faith, was a paralegal, who needs it to further her education.

A clue leads Kate to Eric’s apartment, the firefighter who saved her from injury at a recent fire, a dead end because she was looking for his brother Patrick, who had recently died in a sailing accident.  

One of the many who have contacted Kate’s channel about the Good Sam story, Sylvia, sends a video appeal for her mother, who needs expensive medical attention not covered by their insurance. Sylvia later receives money from Good Sam, and simultaneously, Kate begins receiving text messages telling her to meet up with Sylvia's family, so Kate interviews them on camera.

Yet another anonymous text message, asks her to meet up with ‘Good Sam’ alone and with no camera. There, Kate is shocked to find Jack Hansen, a hedge fund manager she had met through her politician father, claiming to be him.

Jack does an exclusive interview with Kate on Channel 12 about being Good Sam, during which he tells her he wanted to share an unusually highly profitable investment with people struggling financially.

The two go out to eat afterwards, but moments after the interview is aired, Channel 9 finds them and asks Jack about being Good Sam. His response sounds almost identical to the one he gave Kate in their interview. which Kate finds suspicious. Confronting him, he says that he may have "over-prepared" for the interview. The following day, when Kate takes Jack to see one of the first people to receive the 100,000, he changes his story about her. That evening, at a dinner party, Kate discovers that Jack is running for Congress, realizing he was just using the Good Sam persona as a tactic for his campaign.

Kate goes to Eric’s for dinner, where she notices a photograph of Eric, his brother, Patrick, and a man with a cap covering his face and a tatoo on his forearm, whom Eric says was a friend of his brother. Eric goes on to explain that he hasn't sailed since his brother died on his boat because he feels responsible for what happened.

Kate realises that Jack did give away $100,000 to each of the last four people, but someone else was the original Good Sam. She does more research into the first four candidates, first face-to-face with Jesse. She discovers how Jesse is connected to Patrick, because she recognises his forearm tatoo from a photo with the Hays brothers in Camden, ME. He then tells her that Patrick had been his best friend, he grew up with him and worked on his sailboat, the Crazy 8 (the 8 on the bags).

Kate goes on to call the other recipients, all of which were closely connected with Patrick. She realises Eric must be the original Good Sam – and goes to see him. He admits it, explaining the money was from the insurance check for the sailboat accident. He felt it was his fault, so he decided to give the money to people who had all made Patrick's life better. He gave it anonymously thinking they would enjoy the money more if they didn’t know where it came from. Kate decides to keep his secret.

The next day, Kate outs Jack on air, and shows how Good Sam inspired his recipients, Christina buying her neighbour a car, Marie donating hers to cancer research, Jesse giving a portion of his to a food bank and Faith setting up a scholarship.

A month later, Kate and Eric are together, approached by a university student, asking Kate to thank Good Sam as she and several other students had their college tuition paid for anonymously. ‘Good Sam’ continues to inspire the city.

Cast
  • Tiya Sircar as Kate Bradley
  • Chad Connell as Eric Hayes
  • Marco Grazzini as Jack Hansen
  • Jesse Camacho as Josh, Kate's cameraman
  • Mark Camacho as David Dyal, Kate's boss
  • Elana Dunkelman as Lauren, a reporter
  • Kelly Hope Taylor as Susan Andrews
  • Kenny Wong as Ed
  • Daniela Sandiford as Alex
  • Christina Tannous as Christina Gomez
  • Ivan Smith as Senator Ashok Bradley, Kate's father
  • Stefanie Nakamura as a Channel 9 News Reporter
  • Scott Humphrey as a Channel 3 News Reporter
  • Jodie Lynn Resther as Faith Haywood
  • Vince Benvenuto as Jesse Durham
  • Nick Walker as Tyler Nesbit
  • Mylėne Dinh-Robic as Marie Ellis, Patrick's doctor
  • Brittany Drisdelle as Hostess
  • Robert Crooks as Patrick, Eric's late brother (Photo)

Reception

Good Sam received a 5.6/10 on IMDb[3] with a so far undecided review on Rotten Tomatoes[4] and has mixed reviews on other websites, including the Daily Dot[5] and Wherever I Look.[6] Decider simply declares: SKIP IT.[7] So far, Good Sam has been praised for having a diverse cast with a lead who is good at her job, both as a reporter in the movie and an actress. It has been criticized for being too light on plot and having generic characters with little to no backstory.

References
  1. "Good Sam". Netflix. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
  2. "Netflix's 'Good Sam' To Premiere at Bentonville Film Festival – Deadline Hollywood". Deadline Hollywood. May 8, 2018. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  3. "Good Sam (2019) - IMDb" – via m.imdb.com.
  4. "Good Sam (2019)" – via www.rottentomatoes.com.
  5. "'Good Sam' is a heartwarming mystery about selfless generosity". The Daily Dot. May 16, 2019.
  6. Allah, Amari (May 16, 2019). "Good Sam (2019) - Summary, Review (with Spoilers)".
  7. "Stream It Or Skip It: 'Good Sam' on Netflix, a Feel-Good Story About a Plucky Reporter Chasing Down a Do-Gooder". May 16, 2019.
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