Aww dude.... That's sweet and sad at the same time....

I'm about the opposite to you, I think.

If the people who know Sam say that's the way Sam is, I can't think you can fault the producers for it. Sam came off to me (a guy who doesn't know him), as a man so obsessed with pinball that little else matters to him, but as a teddy bear of a guy who is almost unaware that anyone could find what he does or how he lives in anyway odd.

I fault the producers due to their seeking out what people outside of our group would see as at best eccentric, and at worst crazy, in order not to create a compelling narrative (which it never does), but instead to attempt to serve as some kind of freak show for people outside of the hobby.

Hell, I even think the title of the film is intended as a clever pun.