Sam I think was very well done, probably the best character in the movies. Peter Jackson nailled Sam's loyalty to helping Frodo dead on.
As to the fighting in Moria with pots and pans I don't see how that runes Sam's potrayle as a good hobbit. PJ did that to almost everybody even my favorite character Gimli, and that didn't bother me too much. In fact it seemed to make it a little more relatable to the characters.
Over all I think PJ, as well as Tolkien, tried to cast Sam as representing the ordinary man. Someone who isn't brilliantly smart or strong, but rather someone who has love and trust. And that is exactly what Tolkien and Peter Jackson accomplish in both their works.
