Pay It Forward (2000)

Too many fans seem to be blown away

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Purely Joyful Movie!

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

Given an assignment to affect a major change in the world, an impressionable junior high student invents a favours system that sounds good in theory, but can it work in practice? While such a plot summary might make 'Pay It Forward' sound more interesting than it really is, there is no doubting the thought and intelligence of the proposed system: do three big favours for three individuals, who (instead of paying you back) pay a favour forward for three other people. Clever as this may sound, the filmmakers struggle to craft a solid narrative from the idea. While we see the flow-on effects of the system with random strangers doing favours for other strangers in a journalism side-plot, our young protagonist is simply interested in doing favours for those who he knows - which is hardly novel. He has a lonely mother, a sad teacher and a bully target friend, and there is nothing whimsical about his desire to help out these stock characters. By comparison, the best scenes occur in the side-plot as a lawyer gives away his new car and an elderly lady helps a thief evade the law; in fact, the best part comes in the first ten minutes as the reporter suspects a 'Strangers on a Train' trade will pop up before accepting the car. The film is sentimental to boot too with a weak ending that oddly borrows from 'Platoon'. And yet, despite all flaws, the film is engaging while it lasts. Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt do well within the confines of their roles and Thomas Newman's enchanting score is superb. It is just a shame that such an interesting idea could not make for a more satisfying tale.

Rarely does a movie come along that attempts to become more than entertainment and hopes to inspire a "movement". This is one of those excellent examples of how real, positive changes to our world can come from film if done properly. "Pay It Forward" is exceptional from it's basic, boring inception from a simple middle-school extra-credit assignment until it's awe-inspiring, global-changing ending. If nothing else, it makes you think. And feel. Director Mimi Leder orchestrated a classy, elegant, gritty and realistic journey through the Las Vegas underbelly and beyond. She masterfully tried giving us a message of triumph over the paralyzing reality of feeling insignificant in this sea of unloving, uninterested humanity on earth. Leslie Dixon's screen writing (based on a novel of the same name, written by Catherine Ryan Hyde) replaces fear and hatred with hope and kindness against overwhelming odds in a huge, indifferent world. It's a message for all-time. The acting is excellent - headed by Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and the exquisite Haley Joel Osment. This trio of actors put forth a special story about a sad but still idealistic 7th grader who believes the world can be a better place, even if his own worthless existence is as pathetic as everyone else's. He formulates a simple premise - Do something big and helpful for three people with no benefit to himself - and ask that person to do the same for three additional people, and so on... Getting proper guidance from two flawed but still hopeful adults, he discovers we can all make a positive difference in this world through small but not insignificant random acts of kindness that resonate over and over again. What he doesn't realize is the magnitude of his "discovery". Think "The Butterfly Effect" by acting out sheer kindness and thoughtfulness toward your neighbor when that neighbor needs you most. If this story can't get your heart and head moving toward finding ways to make small, significant, positive changes in your life and those around you, then you may never understand there is more to this world than our micromanaged little, selfish existences.Surrounding the main trio of actors is a splendid array of character actors - Jim Caviezel, Angie Dickinson (in one of her last roles), Jon Bon Jovi, Jay Mohr... Watching downtrodden character after character receive a random act of kindness when it was most unexpected and needed, then passing that good deed onto the next "at wits end" character, all the while never knowing where those good deeds started or are headed in the end, makes this a fantastic idea. When Spacey's teacher character comments how after giving out the same ridiculous assignment to classroom after classroom year after year with little to no results, the "Pay It Forward" idea actually had a chance to change the world... It was an honest assessment of why we're all here together in the first place.This movie mesmerized my family -- my teenage kids had never seen it and my wife and I had forgotten how special it was. We all discussed afterward how we could "Pay It Forward" and where. It doesn't matter who, what, when or how. What matters is the "act now". I'm thankful we watched it as a family. I'm thankful to see the wisdom and urgency in this message. And I hope all who watch will not only enjoy but apply the premise of this fabulous film. 9 out of 10 as a movie, 11 out of 10 for it's message and hope.

A good, albeit idealistic and naive, idea, very badly executed.The idea - do good things for others and the world becomes a better place - was a nice one. A touch idealistic and naive, but sentiments to live by, at least.However, everything else about the movie is ridiculously bad. The plot ends up very syrupy, manipulative and predictable. Cringeworthily trite.The characters are quite difficult to like: the irritating, whiny yet do-gooder kid (played by Haley Joel Osment), the smug, aloof, pretentious teacher (played by Kevin Spacey). The mom, played by Helen Hunt, was about the only real and believable character in the movie.The more you get into the movie, the more irritating it becomes. Having made its point early, it just seems to be marking time for the remainder of its two hours. Final straw was when the kid's father turned out to be Jon Bon Jovi... Seemed like he was only there for the audience reaction.The ending just seemed silly too, and went a long way to contradicting the central theme.Hard to like the performances, as the characters weren't that likable. Helen Hunt was solid in her role (and looked pretty good too...). I guess Kevin Spacey did as he was directed for his performance, it was just the character was irritating. Same for Haley Joel Osment.

Certainly the idea of a world utopia where everyone gives more than they take sounds like heaven on earth, but since the chances of that happening are smaller than earth being hit by a meteor, we have to settle for the fantasy of what that would be like. This film explores what the world would be like through the eyes of half a dozen unrelated strangers whose paths cross simply because of a good deed done by one without the expectations of something in return. It starts off in a rather confusing state as each of the characters are introduced, from a wealthy businessman who gives a total stranger the keys to his Jaguar to a prison inmate that stranger (who happens to be a reporter) goes to interview upon learning of the term "pay it forward".However, it is three major characters who carry the base of the story, and when they are introduced, the glue which keeps the story together begins to stick. They are emotionally and physical scarred Junior High history teacher Kevin Spacey, an alcoholic Vegas showgirl/cocktail waitress (Helen Hunt) and her young son, Haley Joel Osmont, who takes Spacey's assignment "Find something you feel that would change the world and make it happen", who is the heart and soul of around which "pay it forward" means. While other kids are too busy with sports, video games or the opposite sex, Osmont takes the challenge to heart, and befriends a homeless drug addict who takes the steps to sober up all because some stranger he met in his homeless camp takes an interest in him without judgment.Of course, the world weary Hunt is horrified to find a strange man taking a shower in her home and this leads her to confront her son's teacher. But as parents learn in the most trying of life lessons, they need to listen to their children more often, and when she discovers the magic of what her son is doing, she is drawn both into the bright light of what he is doing and sobering up with the support of her son and his teacher who reveals his innermost feelings towards her when she begins to find herself attracted to him.These three characters fortunately dominate the bulk of the story and there are only fleeting glimpses into the lives of the others involved, tying together as the prison inmate (David Ramsey) tells his story. It involves a drunken homeless woman (Angie Dickinson looking quite different than normal) who rescued him from a precarious predicament, and in true soap opera fashion, all the characters end up being tied together in a rather surprising way. The story takes a romantic turn when Spacey gets beyond his insecurities over his physical deformities and bares not only his body but his soul to the equally destroyed Hunt. This is a story of two emotionally dead people coming back to life, but the threat of Hunt's past comes back in the form of her estranged husband (Jon Bon Jovi) who claims to be reformed. But is he? Not according to his emotionally distant son who not only locks him out of his room but his heart as well. When Spacey reveals the story behind the scars, it really becomes heartbreaking, and he gives one of the best performances in modern cinema.Of course, there has to be a lesson learned for not only the characters, but the audience as well, and like history has shown, that can only come through a tragedy and a sacrifice. This is where you get your Kleenex out, because even if the "Pay It Forward" theme is something that sounds too good to be true, the heart and soul behind it grabs you in completely. I have seen many movies with remarkable kids over the years, and even met some, and in this messed up world of ours, that is the hope of our future that each coming generation will produce someone like Haley Joel Osment's Trevor. Cinema today is often a mixed bag of trash but sometimes there comes out of it an instant classic that is not only a piece of art, but something so profound that it seems divinely inspired.