Line #28 Film/Sam


1	[[quoteright:288:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sam_poster.jpg]]
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3	''Sam'' is a 2016 GenderBender RomanticComedy film directed by Nicholas Brooks and written by Nicholas Brooks and John J. Gallagher. It stars Natalie Knepp, Sean Kleier, Morgan Fairchild, and Brock Harris.
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5	Sam (Brock Harris) is a womanizer with a real chip on his shoulder about women in general and his best friend Doc's (Sean Kleier) fiancee in particular. After leaving a bachelor party drunk and angry, Sam stumbles into 'Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe'. The shopkeeper (Creator/StacyKeach) listens to Sam complain about women, and after expressing disapproval of Sam's misogyny offers him a mysterious drink. The next day, Sam wakes up as a beautiful woman (Natalie Knepp). "Samantha", as Sam now calls herself, is forced to live as a woman and pretending to be her male self's cousin until she can find a way back...
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7	''Sam'' is a bit of ''Film/GoodbyeCharlie'' mixed with ''Film/MissCongeniality''.
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10	!!''Sam'' contains examples of the following tropes:
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12	* AttractiveBentGender: Technically in play in that everyone treats Samantha as a stunner (albeit initially as a stunner who really needs a makeover). However Sam is also a HandsomeLech so it isn't really an upgrade as such, just a good looking man being turned into a good looking woman.
13	* BegoneBribe: Cynthia cements her role as a bitch by offering to write Samantha a check for whatever she wants if she leaves and never sees Doc again.
14	* BisexualLoveTriangle: Of sorts. Doc finds himself in the middle of a love triangle between his ex-girlfriend Cynthia and his new love interest Sam (who is actually a man transformed into a woman but reciprocates Doc's feelings).
15	* BookOnTheHead: Blondell trains Samantha to walk with a book on her head to improve her posture as part of her GirlinessUpgrade. Blondell himself demonstrates this for her, and is much better at it than she (at first).
16	* CampGay: Blondell (albeit a more subdued version). He's a gay male image consultant who's very sophisticated, with a vast knowledge of fashion, etiquette, and stereotypical feminine behavior.
17	* CatFight: The hostility between Samantha and Cynthia gets physical at one point. It's entirely a philosophical question as to whether this counts as WouldHitAGirl, but hey, Cynthia started it.
18	* CharacterTitle: It's named after the main character.
19	* ClosetKey: Doc for Sam, who never loved any woman or man or anyone until he met and found love with the male Doc.
20	* ColorMeBlack: Sam is [[HeManWomanHater a hateful misogynist]] who makes a drunken rant about the uselessness of women to the proprietor of TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday. The next morning, he wakes up to discover that he is now female.
21	* FemininityFailure: HeManWomanHater Sam underdoes a GenderBender and has no idea how to act feminine. When being taught how to be more presentable by Blondell, her MakeoverMontage includes her making such mistakes as putting a skirt on backwards.
22	* FirstLawOfGenderBending: Once the change happens Sam seems to be stuck as Samantha: the shop has vanished into thin air and there is no other way back. Samantha does consider gender reassignment surgery but after Doc reveals what that would actually involve she's sufficently shaken to decide against it, at least for now. [[spoiler: Eventually the shop does return and Samantha is offered the chance to go back to being male. She turns it down.]]
23	* FirstPeriodPanic: When Sam experiences his first period after undergoing his GenderBender, he assumes that he is hemorrhaging. It's up to his best friend Doc, who is a gynecologist, to explain what is happening. The whole episode just demonstrates how very little Sam knows about women.
24	* ForgotToMindTheirHead: Samantha is hiding under a desk with Margaret when her boss Seymour sticks his head under the desk. Samantha sits up suddenly and bangs her head on the underside of the desk.
25	* GenderBender: The entire focus of the plot sees the male Sam magically turned into the female Samantha.
26	* GenderBenderAngst: Sam is a HeManWomanHater who undergoes extreme angst after being transformed into a woman. She even considers undergoing gender reassignment surgery to become male again (an option that's almost never mentioned in most GenderBender works) but ultimately decides against it. [[spoiler:She gets over this and when offered a chance to change back, declines it, staying female]].
27	* HairFlip: One of the feminine tricks to attract male attention that Blondell teaches Samantha is the hair toss. Doc is visibly stunned when she demonstrates it for him.
28	* HeelRealization: Samantha. About half way through the film Margaret has a conversation with Samantha about her crush on Sam (having no idea that Samantha and her 'cousin' are the same person). What provokes Samantha to feel so guilty is not that Margaret is complaining about Sam's jerkishness, but actually the ''reverse'', that she misread his insensitive behavior as being a facade, when Samantha knows full well it was really just insensitivity.
29	* HeManWomanHater: Sam is an unrepentant misogynist who states that "women are only useful for one thing". The proprietor of TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday causes him to undergo a KarmicTransformation.
30	* IfItsYouItsOkay: After being transformed into a woman, Sam/Samantha never considered himself to be gay or bisexual but falls in love with Doc and chooses to stay as a woman to be with him regardless.
31	* KarmicTransformation: After being rude and disrespectful about women to the proprietor of TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday, HeManWomanHater Sam wakes up the next morning and discovers that he has become a woman.
32	* TheLadette: Initially Samantha is this, acting like the slob she was as a male and dressing in whatever casual clothes she can find. After spending a couple of weeks getting a GirlinessUpgrade from a fashion and style consultant she becomes much more feminine in dress and manner but is still happy to throw around a football.
33	* LaserGuidedKarma: Sam was a notorious womanizer who felt women were only good for one thing. Through the magic of a tea, he is made into a woman himself.
34	* LessonsInSophistication: When Sam undergoes his GenderBender, he has no idea how to act as a woman and so comes across as TheLadette. Although his boss is pleased with "Samantha"'s performance, he decides that she cannot meet with clients with her current standards of dress and manners and sends her to Blondell for training in how to be more ladylike.
35	* TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday: Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe is a classic example complete with enigmatic shopkeeper. An offhand reference hints he may be an angel (or possibly a ghost), but his identity is never confirmed.
36	* LiteralTransformativeExperience: As a result of his time as a woman, Sam not only reevaluates his attitude towards women, but also his attitude towards love, and his relationship with his best friend Doc. [[spoiler: At the end of the movie, Sam is offered the choice to turn back but decides to remain a woman and be with Doc.]]
37	* LoveRedeems: It's Sam falling for Doc that causes him to become less of a jerk and more nicer and open to love.
38	* LoveTriangle: Samantha/Doc/Cynthia. This is revolved by Doc dumping Cynthia (his girlfriend) who didn't treat him well, and ending up with Samantha.
39	* MakeoverMontage: Samantha's sessions with the image consultant Mr. Blondell, which allow her to dress, look and move more like a woman.
40	* MistakenForGay: Cynthia briefly suspects that Doc is actually gay and is attracted to his childhood friend, Sam. She's only half wrong, as Sam is [[GenderBender now Samantha]].
41	* MoodWhiplash: The first fifteen minutes or so before Sam arrives at 'Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe' are noticeably darker with Sam played as an unrepentant {{jerkass}} misogynist. After he turns into Samantha the story becomes much lighter and more comedic Samantha is played more as a JerkWithAHeartOfGold even before her CharacterDevelopment.
42	* NecktieHeadband: Steve is wearing his necktie as a headband by the end of his StagParty.
43	* NiceGirl: Samantha turns into one grudgingly while Margaret is one from the start.
44	* NoodleImplements: Apparently Seymour and Lulu's sexual adventures prominently feature a spatula in some capacity.
45	* NoPeriodsPeriod: Averted. Sam, [[GenderBender now transformed into Samantha]], gets her period and, never having experienced one before, thinks she is hemorrhaging.
46	* OneWordTitle
47	* PluckyOfficeGirl: Margaret mixed with a dose of HypercompetentSidekick. She does a lot of work both Sam and his boss take credit for all the while nursing a hopeless crush on Sam. After Sam becomes a woman, "Samantha" strikes up a genuine friendship with Margaret and feels a lot of guilt for taking advantage of her for so long. [[spoiler: Later after a successful report Samantha and Margaret both work on Samantha persuades her boss to give the promotion to Margaret.]]
48	* ProtagonistTitle: The protagonist is Sam.
49	* RelativelyFlimsyExcuse: After experiencing a GenderBender, Sam poses as his cousin "Samantha".
50	* SheCleansUpNicely: A mild example. The original slovenly, badly-groomed Samantha is already quite cute and manages to attract her fair share of male attention; but once she's been given a makeover, that cute girl is suddenly, as Seymour aptly puts it, stunning.
51	* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: When Blondell refers to Doc as Sam's boyfriend, both Sam and Doc immediately correct him.
52	-->'''Samantha:''' Oh, he's not my boyfriend.\
53	'''Doc:''' I'm ''not'' her boyfriend.\
54	'''Blondell:''' [[DeadpanSnarker They both said, rather loudly...]]
55	* SingleTargetSexuality: Explicit in Samantha's case. After becoming a woman, she finds she no longer has any sexual interest in women, but she is also still sexually uninterested in men. That is, until she finds herself becoming attracted to Doc - after which point, Doc is the only person who inspires any arousal in her whatsoever.
56	* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: Samantha tries to convince Doc of her real identity by bringing up a couple of really private anecdotes that only Sam and Doc know about. It doesn't work, because Doc comes to the more logical conclusion that Sam simply told these private things to this crazy woman.
57	* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Film/{{Switch\|1991}}''. The plots and main characters are similar, though unlike in the earlier film Sam is still alive when he is transformed into a girl and [[spoiler: Samantha both survives and makes a definite choice to become a woman permanently.]]
58	* StagParty: At the start of the film, the misogynistic Sam attends his friend Steve's bachelor party. He leaves the party drunk and angry and ranting about women when he stumbles into TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday and his problems really start.
59	* TheyCallMeMisterTibbs: Alexander Blondell insists that his clients address him as Mr. Blondell. Sam's repeated attempts to refer to him as "pal", "buddy" or even "Alexander" are met with a polite but firm correction:
60	-->"It's Mr. Blondell. M-I-S-T-E-R B-L-O-N-D-E-L-L."
61	* TookALevelInKindness: In a variation, Sam is a HeManWomanHater who begins his journey to being a nicer person when he suffers a KarmicTransformation [[GenderBender into a woman]]. He slowly goes from a woman-hating HandsomeLech to being the sweet-natured, thoughtful young woman Samantha genuinely in love with someone. [[spoiler: She ends up choosing to stay as a woman, having both fallen in love with Doc and grown to like being a woman for its own sake.]]
62	* TransEqualsGay: More like transformation equals gay. After being transformed into a woman, Sam eventually comes to realize that he's fallen in love with Doc and decides to stay as a woman to be with him.
63	* UnkemptBeauty: Pre-makeover Samantha. Even dressed in baggy sweats, with messy hair, no makeup and...less-than-stellar hygiene, she's quite pretty.
64	* WrongNameOutburst: Cynthia sneaks back into Doc's apartment and attempts to reconcile with him by massaging him while he's asleep. Not quite waking up, Doc murmurs "That feels good, Sam". This leads to Cynthia [[MistakenForGay assuming that Doc is gay]].

Context Film / Sam